Who Could Trump have beaten in 2020

[Vice President Christian Man]

Discuss with maps

[Chips]

Honestly, Trump may well have won against all of them. Biden was absolutely the safest candidate the Dems ran this time around and it paid off.

[Sol]

Trump could have beaten every single Democratic candidate IMO.

The better question I think is "Who would Trump have been favored against?" My suspicion is that he would have beaten most of the field in most scenarios, except for Biden, Sanders, and maybe Klobuchar. Elizabeth Warren as the nominee stands out in particular as an especially likely Trump landslide.

[Vice President Christian Man]

I agree about the first three, but I think Warren could've flipped (or gotten close to flipping) Ohio and made Iowa more competitive. On the other hand, she would've lost Georgia and Arizona and possibly Nevada, so it's tough to tell.

Trump could have beaten every single Democratic candidate IMO.

The better question I think is "Who would Trump have been favored against?" My suspicion is that he would have beaten most of the field in most scenarios, except for Biden, Sanders, and maybe Klobuchar. Elizabeth Warren as the nominee stands out in particular as an especially likely Trump landslide.

[Roll Roons]

I agree about the first three, but I think Warren could've flipped (or gotten close to flipping) Ohio and made Iowa more competitive. On the other hand, she would've lost Georgia and Arizona and possibly Nevada, so it's tough to tell.

Yeah, no.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Everybody but Biden.

50/50 chance against Booker (hot take!) and Sanders.

[Mr. Smith]

None of them.

The absolute nadir got nominated and still won, even with traditionally the most incompetent campaign imaginable [but of course the pandemic rewarded such behavior by default].

Actual barnstorming might even have tipped NC and FL, and stopped so many low propensity voters from fleeing....or even convinced them to go the other way.

[Da2017]

Almost all of those candidates. Booker and maybe Harris had a shot. I'm certain Warren would of lost. Biden was the right candidate for the moment. He was no where near my top choice, but looking back he was the democrats best chance of defeating Trump.

[Skill and Chance]

At least 80% of the people on this list!

Klobuchar and Hickenlooper would likely win.  Bloomberg, Patrick or Moulton might be favored.  Everyone else is toast.   

[Biden his time]

Blasphemy occurring against Wayne Messam on this forum, eh?

[Utah Neolib]

Everyone but Biden, with the exception of Wayne Messam for obvious reasons

[here2view]

He could have beaten everyone on that list, the interesting thing is who he would have been favored/the underdog against

[patzer]

He could have beaten anyone on that list but Yang. It was a close election.

[dw93]

I'm only going to answer this question with candidates that were still in the race by the time the primaries started and had a realistic shot at being nominated. Those being Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg. Trump could've beaten all of them, but Sanders IMHO is the only candidate of the bunch that could've beaten Trump. With Sanders as the nominee, Georgia goes Trump and at least a 50/50 chance Arizona does too. So that leaves Bernie with a path to victory that's limited to winning PA, MI, WI, and possibly NE 2nd on top of all the Clinton '16 / Biden '20 states, giving Sanders an even closer win than Biden had. Plus, with hindsight, he's the only non Biden candidate I can see winning the nomination without a brokered convention. Buttigieg and Bloomberg, of all the candidates I mentioned, would've fared the worst against Trump.

[Houstonian Sock]

All of them, including Biden... he really ed up though

[sting in the rafters]

All of the above. Generally, the incumbent wins re-election via expanding their base. Big T spent 4 years not only crystallizing his support with Obama-Trump voters, but rallying rural support amongst those who sat on the sidelines. Biden was unique in his ability to both get strong Democratic base turnout and decisively carry independent voters.

[DaleCooper]

Yang is the only one coming out of the Democratic Primary that would've been highly favored against Trump. If Beto O'Rourke had won the Senate seat and not run one of the most embarrassing campaigns imaginable, he'd have been tough for Trump to beat as well, but the Beto in our timeline would've lost to Trump.

[Schiff for Senate]

I agree about the first three, but I think Warren could've flipped (or gotten close to flipping) Ohio and made Iowa more competitive. On the other hand, she would've lost Georgia and Arizona and possibly Nevada, so it's tough to tell.

Yeah, no.

I somehow feel like Bernie Sanders might be a better fit for the WWC Obama/Trump voters than Warren. Of course, OH and IA wouldn't flip for either Warren or Sanders, or even come close (I define close as within 5 points).

[Pres Mike]

All of the above. Generally, the incumbent wins re-election via expanding their base. Big T spent 4 years not only crystallizing his support with Obama-Trump voters, but rallying rural support amongst those who sat on the sidelines. Biden was unique in his ability to both get strong Democratic base turnout and decisively carry independent voters.

This election was so similar to 2004 its crazy

Both had a republican incumbent. Both had a surge in turnout. Both followed elections to replace a popular two term democrat. Both followed elections with high third party vote but than said two party vote disappeared. Both republicans had cult like followings.

[DS0816]

Discuss with maps

COVID–19 struck on the watch of Republican incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump.

Had the timing happened one year later, he would have won re-election—and we would be looking toward a 2022 Democratic midterm elections wave. (The Democrats would have had their pickup of the presidency in 2024 rather than 2020.)

We know the timing.

[darklordoftech]

Bloomberg for sure. Bloomberg would be easy to demonize as pro-Wall Street, anti-gun, having “New York values”, etc., and isn’t likable.

[Ferguson97]

All of them except maybe Steve Bullock.

[Da2017]

Bloomberg for sure. Bloomberg would be easy to demonize as pro-Wall Street, anti-gun, having “New York values”, etc., and isn’t likable.

A bloomberg nomination would of been a disaster.