Everything's complicated and my hesitation about replacing Biden up to now has been informed by polls showing other candidates not doing much better. But a lot of people seem remarkably certain that Harris specifically could not win a general election for reasons I think they should say out loud.
To be fair, the last time she was in a national election, everyone thought she would be a formidable candidate but she did terribly, and was widely considered a surprisingly poor campaigner. So there is a data point.
Yes, but that campaign was a primary which means that data point was comprised of people who read Jacobin and were ride or die for Bernie Sanders, and old people.
She was weak in the primary for reasons that could help her in the general. Primaries are about attracting key constituencies in the party. Kamala was too moderate for the left wing, the right wing wanted a safe old white guy, and Black and women voters were divided.
She wanted to be all things to all people and as a result appealed to no one. But in a general election all those groups are united behind her and she’s appealing to swing state voters. She would be better in that context.
