As Donald Trump has gained in the polls over the past week, journalists and pundits have been asking what exactly is going on. It’s not as if Trump was ever out of the running (the betting odds have had him around 50-50 for months), but he’s had a slight, consistent uptick across the polls that has many asking, “Why now?”
With all due respect, that’s the wrong question, especially if Democratic leaders and pundits are the ones asking it. They need to be asking the bigger question of why they could lose. Today’s columnist has a list of answers for them. And since he’s not eager for another Trump administration, and since his explanation isn’t, “Republicans are stupid,” or, “Voters are stupid,” or, “Everyone is stupid,” the Democratic poobahs really ought to listen.
Now, there are a couple of items on this list that I don’t love or agree with about voters for Trump, almost to the point I considered moving on to another column (skip numbers 5 and 16 if you like). But I’m not sure anyone on the left has composed a stronger, more inward-looking analysis of why Harris and the Democrats could lose. The party pundits and leaders likely won’t appreciate it, but if they’d managed this kind of self-awareness earlier in the campaign, they might not be asking, “Why now?” today.
Or, “Why us?” two weeks from now.