Genuine question to Democrats: why so loyal to Biden?

[oraclebones]

I find the responses in this thread so interesting. A reasonable question asked in a reasonable way, and almost all the responses are super defensive. I think it shows that for Democrats who don’t openly admit that they wish Biden hadn’t run for re-election actually wish he hadn’t in some subconscious part of their mind, but then can only respond to suggestions that he shouldn’t have by acting like it’s an outlandish suggestion.

For those who say “he’s been so effective” or “he’s a nice guy,” even if you believe that 100% as a reason he should be re-elected, surely you can acknowledge that a significant portion of voters (like probably a majority) simply disagree, and that from a purely political perspective (i.e., putting aside governance or [ha] Biden’s wonderful personality), there’s a good chance that it’s tremendous folly for the party to stick with someone so unpopular. (Yes, you could say the same of Trump, and goodness knows I’m as stunned as anyone that an overwhelming majority of Americans haven’t roundly rejected him. But the question was specifically not about Trump; it was about Biden.)

Putting my cards on the table, I’m a former Democrat who gave up on the party about a decade ago when it became to obvious to me that the Democratic Party has no principles that I can really agree with it. I am politically far-left (like faaaaar left). But given a binary choice between a Democrat and Trump, there’s not the slightest uncertainty in my mind I’d prefer a Democratic president to  Trump. That’s why it’s so distressing Biden chose to run for re-election and party elites chose to fully support his decision when he’s obviously so unpopular.

For those who say “but he’s been so effective,” sorry, but that’s not how most people see it. You can say it’s not true, unfair, it’s the media’s fault, etc. You can say the voters are stupid, and you’d be right. But the fact is a majority of voters don’t agree with you about Biden. To speak on Trump briefly, it IS true that Republicans were similarly foolish in nominating Trump, in that any other person they might have nominated would likely sweep the floor with Biden, given how unpopular he is. But at least for Republicans, they can say their voters chose Trump (however bewilderingly insane that choice is).

As a side note, for those who say that primary challenges of incumbent presidents always weaken, or even doom, the president’s reelection chances, you may be getting the direction of causation wrong. If an incumbent faces an even somewhat serious challenge from within his own party, it may be because they’re seen as disappointing or ineffectual by voters generally (not just by the candidate challenging them). That same perception may be what dooms the president’s reelection chances, not the fact that they faced a primary challenge.

All this said, I don’t make any predictions about November. Biden might well win reelection, and we can all have some fun watching him further deteriorate for another 4 years. But if he loses, it will have been SOOOO obvious that it was a mistake to renominate him.