Badger(D) vs Fuzzy Bear(R)

[Badger]

I like them both, but I'd vote for Badger as I'm ideologically closer to him. However, I think Fuzzy would win reasonably comfortably.

I normally don't comment about electability in these threads, but two points to make.

First, Once I properly switched back to a red Avatar (just waiting on my absentee ballot in the mail, Tom ). I could win my party's nomination running as an Al Franken Democrat who lampooned Republicans all too accurately. Fuzzy could never ever win as a Republican supporting Obama Care and the like.

Secondly, even if somehow fuzzy could win the nomination, AND somehow avoided a serious third-party candidate who shares traditionally Republican views on both social AND economic policies running as a "true heir to Reagan" or the like, voters would ultimately still have a hard hard time accepting his far-right social views being the focus of his candidacy. The difference between him and say Trump, W, and Reagan is fuzzy is obviously a True Believer^TM whose American Taliban Lite views would scare the ever-living f out of the most swing voters.

Simply put, it's the reason that even Republican primary voters chose folks like W over Pat Robertson, McCain over Huckabee, Romney over Santorum, and Trump over just about every other alternative. While Republicans need a nominee who checks all the right boxes on social issues plus consolidates the working class anti-abortion vote in the general election, they also understand needing a candidate whose right-wing views on social issues aren't the raison d' etre of their candidacy like Fuzzy, or the suburbs will desert them in droves.

Besides, extra pats on the head for any Trump supporters whom, without any apparent realization of the inherent contradiction, think that I am too "aggressive " or "partisan" to be elected president.

Forget "muh populism". I'd probably clean the floors with Fuzzy.

[Badger]

Bumping. In this environment Fuzzy would win comfortably. Interesting how Badger/Fuzzy is tied for preference.

I mean, it doesn't take a genius to know that 2022 is going to be ugly for Democrats. Whereas the optimism for my winning would have been markedly different in a 2018 environment.

Granted, if somehow the Republican Party actually nominated a genuine Pro Universal Health Care supporter and probably their most left-wing candidate on economics since at least Eisenhower or even Teddy Roosevelt, not someone offering the usual garbage claptrap like tort reform and selling Insurance across state lines so we can just repeal nasty old Obamacare as totally not being needed anymore honest to goodness and cross our hedge fund hearts, that would be very difficult to beat other than the very strong likelihood of a Club for Growth style third party conservative running. Though conservatives are organized enough that they would probably decide fuzzy would likely be at least nominally better then me on economic and Taxation issues, and they can maybe get to him easier with appropriate friendly lobbying from like-minded Theocratic Christians, the end result being the third party might have a little more traction and say Evan McMullin.

I still think he would have serious difficulty as, even if on paper the check list of major social issues between say Ralph Reed and George W bush aren't that far apart, the former comes across as an American version of the Taliban whereas the latter comes across as more just a standard conservative on social issues. It's partially stylistic and partially emphasis. For that reason , Fuzzy would have great difficulty not being seen as the former rather than the latter.

And I think there are a number of Romney-Biden voters who would get immediately turned off by someone adhering to the big lie. It's not an issue that entirely preaches to the choir. Frankly, one is going to run as a sycophant of trump and all his double dealings in conspiracy theories, it's going to be tough to expand much beyond that base.

[Badger]

Badger because Ohio.

Funnily enough, I think even Badger would lose OH in a GE, unless it was a big blue wave.

In 2022, sadly almost for sure.

In 2020, assuming I have a background is a multi term Senator or governor of the Buckeye state, I might have been able to pull off a narrow win, though Sherrod Brown in 2018 would have been my ceiling.

[Badger]

Just for the funnies, Here's a 269-269 map between the two.

That's... Actually not at all implausible.

The farthest stretch would be my winning States like Michigan and Wisconsin in Pennsylvania while still losing Nevada. Maybe fuzzy picked his running mate from there and/or I got into a public or private pissing match with Las Vegas mayor Goodman, which I could totally see as I am not a fan.