Does no-one remember how Hillary Clinton was the popular former Secretary of State with 60%+ approval, while Drumpf was the race-baiting laughingstock who would lose in a massive landslide if he were somehow nominated?
In another timeline, it may have been Sanders losing to Rubio after being successfully painted as a left-wing extremist, with the consensus being that the "Tea Party of the left" had cost the Democrats a probable win by rejecting the qualified establishment moderate in Hillary Clinton for "McGovern 2.0".
This is definitely true and let's be honest here, Clinton was always going to win as long as she ran. Sanders may have been a surprising opponent but he still lost badly.
In spite of that, if I go with the hypothetical of Clinton not running at all. This would have been Biden's best chance. There was still a somewhat weak bench for the Democrats and if anyone else like a Warren or Booker ran against Biden, he probably would have defeated them still.
I still don't know if he would win or not though. I think a third term after eight years of a Democratic White House would have been an uphill battle for anyone even against Trump and that doesn't even take Russian interference or other outside factors into account. Obama could have won though. Obama running for a third term would have trounced Trump. That I will say with some confidence.
