Given what you know now, would different candidates have made a difference?

[Shrek]

I got to thinking about this after reading this poll and related thread.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19723076

This is strictly about the candidates; assume nothing else about the election was any different.

71 votes, 5 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Trump was unbeatable no matter what
	5 (7%)
	Any Republican would have won no matter what
	3 (4%)
	VP Harris might have beaten a Republican other than Trump
	3 (4%)
	President Biden might have beaten a Republican other than Trump
	0 (0%)
	A different Democrat might have beaten a Republican other than Trump
	0 (0%)
	President Biden might have beaten Trump
	6 (8%)
	A different Democrat might have beaten Trump
	41 (58%)
	Something else
	13 (18%)
	5 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[DeepWinter]

1. I could have picked

3 of those choices

[Shrek]

2. Which 3? Tell me more n/t

[BComplex]

3. We need another choice: Kamala Harris won against trump and we need a forensic audit of all the swing states

and the software on the voting machines.

The republicans and trump had been telling us for years how they were going to do it...because it was what they were blaming democrats for doing.

[Hope22]

6. Agree!

I don’t understand why this doesn’t happen. Count the paper ballots/ receipts!

[Meowmee]

4. For me it would have made no difference

Because I always vote for the D candidate. Whether a different candidate would have made a difference I am not sure, possibly.

[Hope22]

5. President Biden might have won the Electoral College if he were four years younger.

He’s a fighter but relentless bashings from T really took a toll on him. T worked behind the scenes to undermine Biden’s international policy. But hey Harris is within 1.5 % of T and votes keep coming in. Considering voter rolls were purged and voting was made more difficult in some states the obstacles just added up against her. State SOS’s run by corrupt Republicans also factor in. Ohio certainly had problems. Unfortunately Biden’s health lead to Harris being thrown in at the last minute. She did a good job but needed more time.

[LisaL]

8. I don't think more time would have helped Harris.

For one, if Biden was blamed for price of eggs (supposedly bad economy) so was Harris.
Looks like voters wanted "change" from Biden's administration, and boy did they get it.
Now we all get to "enjoy."

[Hope22]

11. There will be no enjoyment.

[Hope22]

18. I feel like more time would have made the range of topics wider.

We definitely left something on the table in Detroit and the separate topic of immigration was really never clarified. Trumpets have been fed a steady Fox diet of Dems being awful on Immigration when every solution presented over the last four years was ignored or voted down by the R’s. In fact Border officials were in favor of Biden’s plan. Immigration issues aren’t new by any stretch of the imagination but T played it to the hilt. Despite these issues not being clearly addressed by the campaign Harris did better than the press let on and insinuated that the counting was over on Wednesday and that did not help. On Wednesday the talking heads immediately turned the page and began bashing Harris and Dem voters. By design……..and so the Dems sit defeated and admonished for poor……turnout!

[Vinca]

7. I think Harris ran one of the best political campaigns I've ever seen, but in the end we have to face

the fact that peoples' noses are embedded in their cellphones, they get their news from dubious sources on social media, are generally not interested until something they need is gone and that a large chunk only get engaged when there's a presidential election and that's just for the show. I don't know what might have beaten the carnival and at this point figure it's going to take the destruction of the next 4 years to change things. It's wash, rinse, repeat.

[SoCalDavidS]

29. I Don't Think 4 Years Will Change A Thing

Voters want a right wing agenda. Democrats will get blame for anything bad, even if they had nothing to do with it.

[qazplm135]

30. American voters are fascinated

With what Republicans sell. They've been fascinated with it for three generations now

Then Republicans ruin things and Americans are forced to vote for Democrats, who then make things right, only for Americans to run right back to Republicans.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

We never learn the obvious lesson.

[JI7]

9. Trump would have lost if he was not a hetero white man

Like Mark Robinson

[jfz9580m]

10. I think Musk was a factor

How big, who knows..

[Blue_Tires]

12. As others have said elsewhere

I really didn't want Biden to quit the race, but his hand was forced when famous donors publicly said they wouldn't hold any more fundraisers... Not because I doubted Harris' abilities and qualifications, but because deep down I feared too many Americans of all races and political stripes would never in a million years vote for the best qualified black woman over the absolutely worst qualified white man...

[Hope22]

19. I felt like Biden had said he was in and the Dems forced him out saying....

…he just needs to make up his mind. He did make up his mind …they should have done the intervention in private not through the television! It was disrespectful in my opinion. But…I came to see that she was strong and had more energy to get us through the next four years which will not be a walk in the park with or without her leading the way! I do think she worked harder than any candidate I have ever seen!

[Beringia]

13. A different Male Democrat might have beaten Trump

[Hope22]

20. I wonder who?

Harris was on the primary ballot. I would have been irate if the Dems had scratched the entire ticket to put their new boy in. Women would have been irate. I would have considered it obstruction of the election process if they had done anything other than what they did. And by the way the only male Dem worthy, qualified and ready to lead is Pete Buttigieg!

[Beringia]

21. I'm not saying they should have, only that a male could have won

I have no idea when a woman can win in the future

[Hope22]

23. As long as we keep saying it it will be true.

Harris was closer than you think in vote counts. Women need to not be pushed back with every excuse! Soooo over it. Men need To evolve.

[Hope22]

32. Are you good with Pete then?

[Beringia]

35. No way. And seems you are bringing in things that are even more far fetched

And it is not that I am okay with something, we are talking about who can win

[Hope22]

36. Wow!

Who do you think could have won?

[Beringia]

40. Since we never had a primary, I don't know who would have thrown their hat in the ring

[yardwork]

14. Harris might have beaten a Republican other than Trump.

I also could have picked "Trump was unbeatable" because I'm certain that the fix was in.

Billions of dollars from across the world poured into Trump's campaign, most of it hidden and unreported. Musk and the Saudis and who knows who else bought Twitter to push disinformation. Data gleaned from social media was used to target different messages to different voters. Despite Trump being a demonstrably horrible person, he could not lose.

[SocialDemocrat61]

15. I don't have extrasensory powers

to see into alternate timelines. If anyone has actual data in regard to the issue, I would love to see it.

[LostOne4Ever]

16. Inflation would have destroyed anyone (nt)

[Iggo]

17. Given what I know now, I think Biden should have declined to run for a second term and we should have had a primary.

I’ll still never know if that would’ve made a difference.

[Kaleva]

43. I agree

[forthemiddle]

22. We are a 50/50 Country

And although 8 year same party rule isn’t unusual, switching of parties is the norm.
I honestly think that if Covid wasn’t a factor, Trump would have won in 2020, then 2024 would have been our year. It wouldn’t have been Biden or Harris, but it would have been a Democrat.
Every election, I feel, the losing party over analyzes the results, but when you honestly look at history change is the norm.

[Skittles]

24. a different Democrat

why don't you just say it like it is: A MALE DEMOCRAT

[Hope22]

37. They are saying it upstream...

….and Pete doesn’t qualify! If one more person says it needs to be a man every woman out here should boycott the place! I am sooooo sick of this !

[Skittles]

41. well they are not wrong

apparently has to be white, male and straight

or else people will vote for a fucking FASCIST

[TheKentuckian]

25. The likes of a Roy Cooper MAY have eeked it out.

White and male may equal a couple points or so...maybe.

[elleng]

26. NO, it's the PROPAGANDA!

Dems gotta do BRAG and be firm and LOUD about repug LIES!!!

[usregimechange]

27. Can't run establishment folks when there's high inflation, needed a governor, etc

[tritsofme]

28. After Biden dropped out we were stuck with Harris, there was no other plausible option

It would have torn the party apart.

Harris was a poor presidential candidate, we knew that from 2020, but she did the best she could under the circumstances, and almost certainly did better than Biden would have.

However if Biden never sought reelection, we could have produced a much stronger candidate in a competitive primary, such as Whitmer, Shapiro, or Fetterman, who at the very least wouldn’t have been frozen out of the Blue Wall.

[Hope22]

38. Funny! She was voted to represent the party in the presidential race!

WTF! So poor she is within 1% of T right now! This kind of talk against Dems was never aloud here but suddenly it is fair to bash women! Little Trumpies budding! It doesn’t take long! This needs to stop !

[tritsofme]

42. That's just nonsense. Having an opinion that Harris wasn't a great candidate

is not “bashing” women, I even suggested a different woman who I feel would have been a much better candidate.

And by the way, no one voted for her to be our candidate, we all know that, so that was a pretty strange thing to say. But I don’t fault her for it, as I said, we had no other plausible option.

“Little Trumpies”? I don’t even know what the hell means, take a deep breath maybe? Or a walk around the block?

[Oopsie Daisy]

31. Great! Another "everyone-shit-on-Harris" post, disguised as a poll. What fun!

[Babajida]

33. All this magical hindsight

Everyone is blaming their favorite pet peeve. Harris ran a great campaign. We should be trying to solve issues like a broken media and Citizen's United instead of disrespecting Harris and Walz's efforts and generally tearing the party apart.

[stillcool]

34. reaping what you sow

chickens coming home to roost...die is cast....yada, yada

[Hope22]

39. EarlG are we going to permit Dem bashing out here now!

Suddenly it’s open season on Dems and women! Serious problem!

[Hekate]

44. IMO Kamala ran a flawless campaign with only one thing wrong: she lacked a penis

On the night of the election I was stunned at the stupidity of my fellow Americans. I was utterly gobsmacked by the misogyny.

Look at this sequence:

**Barack Obama, a charismatic black man, ran against John McCain, a white war hero, and won.
**Hillary Clinton, one of the most highly qualified people to ever seek the presidency, ran against Trump, a clown and a bankrupt and an admitted sexual assaulter with no government experience. She lost — the male bankrupt assaulter won.
**Joe Biden, a highly qualified man, returned — he won against Trump.
**Kamala Harris, another highly qualified person, a woman, ran against Trump, who was by this time a twice impeached, 34 times indicted, convicted of sexual assault (ie rape), visibly declining old man who was still a clown and a bankrupt. And he won.

Please notice the pattern.

[Quiet Em]

45. Ugh.

Way too much Trump in your poll. Nearly every option included him.

[moondust]

46. It still would have been

superficial entertainment vs. serious governance.

You know which one the media prefer.