The Political Center Is Gone (dailysignal.com)
What to do about the President’s declining poll numbers? One answer:
Respected Democrat strategist Mark Penn has a piece in The New York Times urging Biden to shake off these progressives and reconnect with the moderates in his party. This is what Bill Clinton did, he reminds readers, to save his presidency in the mid-1990s.
However, there’s a problem with that:
Yes, it’s true that Clinton saved his presidency by turning to the middle. But then, in 1994, according to Gallup, 25% of Democrats self-identified as liberal, 25% conservative, and 48% as moderate.
Today, per Gallup, the percentage of Democrats identifying as liberal has doubled to 51%; the percentage identifying as conservative is half what it was in 1994—12%—and the percentage of moderates has dropped from 48% to 35%.
At the same time, Republicans have become more conservative than they were in 1994.
In 1994, 58% of Republicans identified as conservative. Today, it’s 75%.
Biden could move to the center, but then he’d tick off pretty much everyone. That’s not where his party is anymore, and it still wouldn’t appease the right.
Every candidate claims to be a uniter, not a divider. Until we elect someone who backs up those words, things will just get worse in this country.
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