From Smirking Chimp
She's ahead in the polls by roughly three to four points. Given her opposition, however, Hillary Clinton ought be doing a lot better than that.
Consider Clinton's structural advantages over Donald Trump.
Whereas top Democratic Party officials are so supportive of her that they even cheated to defeat her primary opponent, hundreds of leading Republicans -- including the speaker of the house and the last two presidential nominees -- have declared war against him. She's been wildly outspending him in televised political advertising. She has campaign field offices in most counties; he doesn't have any in most states. The news media despises him.
Then consider her personal advantages.
Trump is a novice, never having run for political office. She has served in the cabinet, presented herself for the Senate twice, run for president, weathered countless scandals and political storms. Whereas he rants and raves incoherently, her experience has taught her how to debate, crisis manage, issue sound bites, and carefully calibrate her every phrase for maximum impact and minimum risk. His main advantage is the perception of authenticity -- and it's a big one, having gotten him where he is now -- but it has come at a huge price as all his years of running off at the mouth on and off camera are coming home to roost weeks before election day.
Donald Trump has infuriated more than half the voters: women. He has insulted one out of 10 male and female Americans: Latinos, some of whom are registering to vote just to cast a ballot against him. And let's not forget Muslims.
Given all that, why is he doing so well? Why is she doing so badly -- or more accurately, so not well?
Part of Hillary's problem is personality. Truth be told, she really isn't "likeable enough."
"The vote for president is a 'feel' vote," Chris Cillizza wrote in The Washington Post. "Do you think this person is someone who understands you and the problems (and hopes and dreams) you have for yourself and your children?" Polls have consistently shown that most Americans think she doesn't.
It's not all sexism: Clinton yells into microphones and overly enunciates. Her voice is objectively irritating. Then there's her incredibly ugly, unbelievably hideous wardrobe: it's hard to like someone who makes your eyes burn.
But let's face it. Hillary Clinton, probably like you and definitely like me, can't do anything about her personality. At 68, that stuff is baked in. Still, there's a lot she could do to close the deal against Donald Trump -- to widen her within-the-margin-of-statistical-error lead to a chasm, the insurmountable landslide that her institutional and other advantages would have guaranteed a better candidate.
It's about policy, stupid.
Recommendation #1: Guarantee Bernie Sanders a high-profile position in the cabinet. (She should have made him vice president, but it's too late for that.)
Even after the Democratic convention in which Sanders endorsed her, more than a third of Bernie voters -- roughly 1/6 of the electorate -- still weren't behind her. Annoyed that Clinton didn't grant any significant concessions to the party's progressive base, many of them will vote for Jill Stein or stay home. I've been prognosticating about American politics for decades, and I've never been more certain of a prediction: a firm guarantee that Bernie Sanders will have a seat at the table for the next four years would singlehandedly put an end to Trump's chances.
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