One thing voters agree on: Fresh voices needed in politics

vote
“If we keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result: That’s not just the definition of insanity. That’s also the definition of incumbency.”

As he campaigns for a Manhattan congressional seat against fellow Democrats twice his age, 38-year-old Suraj Patel harnesses the frustration of his generation toward those who have held office for decades.

In his telling, Reps. Jerry Nadler, 75, and Carolyn Maloney, 76, are part of a crop of Democrats who rose to power in the 1990s only to fail on issues ranging from guns to climate change and abortion. The redistricting process that merged their congressional districts offers a chance for new leadership, Patel says.

“If we keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result: That’s not just the definition of insanity,” he said. “That’s also the definition of incumbency.”

More than 1,100 miles to the west in the presidential testing ground of Iowa, Republican Jeremiah Bronson was also considering whether someone other than 76-year-old Donald Trump might carry his party into the future. Bronson expressed growing interest in 55-year-old Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“He seems to be on the same page with conservatives around the country,” Bronson, 39, said as he dined on barbecued pork sandwiches with a half-dozen other Story County Republicans.

In a nation faltering along seemingly every conceivable divide, there’s a shared desire among Democrats and Republicans for a new generation of political leadership. The conversation is most pronounced when it comes to the White House as Trump considers another campaign and President Joe Biden confronts skepticism about his ability to mount a reelection bid in 2024 when he is 82.

“There’s just a sense of like, that rematch between these two old guys seems ridiculous to people,” said Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist who conducts almost weekly focus groups with voters across the country and political spectrum.

There are recurring calls for youth and change in U.S. politics.

Bill Clinton’s appeal for a new generation of leadership helped him rise from governor of Arkansas to the first baby boomer president in 1992. In 2008, Barack Obama’s relative youth was an asset in his primary campaign against Hillary Clinton and during the general election against Arizona Sen. John McCain.

More recently, Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential bid gained traction with its focus on fresh leadership before being overtaken by Biden, viewed by many Democrats as the safer choice against Trump.

The dynamics have shifted since then, with some Democratic voters furious that Biden and leaders in Congress haven’t done more to protect abortion rights, respond more aggressively to a wave of mass shootings and address climate change.

A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows 83% of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track. Only 36% approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 62% disapprove. Polling from AP-NORC in recent months captured deepening pessimism among members of his own Democratic Party about Biden, the direction of the country and the state of the economy. A January AP-NORC poll found just 28% of those surveyed and 48% of Democrats said they want Biden to run for reelection in 2024.

Julián Castro, a former Obama housing secretary and onetime presidential candidate, said there’s “no doubt” that members of his party are frustrated and that Democrats in Washington need to show a sense of urgency and produce results. In a telephone interview from the Texas Democratic Convention in Dallas, he said Democrats seemed energized.

“My immediate hope is that that angst and frustration is going to be channeled positively to turnout in November,” he said, referring to the midterm elections. “And then we’ll reckon with what’s beyond that when November happens.”

Biden has repeatedly insisted he will run for reelection. But should he decide to step aside, a host of younger Democrats could be in contention. They include Vice President Kamala Harris, who is 57. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 54, and Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker, 57, have garnered attention for their responses to the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling and mass shootings.

Some Democrats seeking office this year have been clear about their desires that a new generation take its place in politics.

Last month, the Democratic candidate for governor in South Carolina, Joe Cunningham, proposed not only term limits but also age limits for officeholders, saying it was time to end America’s “geriatric oligarchy” of politicians who are staying “in office way past their prime.” To Cunningham, who recently turned 40, that includes the incumbent he hopes to oust in November, 75-year-old Republican Henry McMaster, who is the state’s oldest sitting governor.

But Cunningham also said the proposal was intended to apply to Biden.

For Republicans, the most pressing debate often seems to focus less explicitly on age and more on whether the party should move on from Trump. That’s particularly true in the wake of hearings by the House Jan. 6 committee that have drawn new attention to his desperate efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 election.

The Jan. 6 hearings may be sending voters looking elsewhere.

An AP-NORC in June found that 48% of U.S. adults say Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the siege of the U.S. Capitol. January’s AP-NORC poll showed that people were just as down on Trump running again in 2024 as they were Biden: Just 27% of U.S. adults wanted Trump to run again, including a slim majority – 56% — of Republicans. That poll also showed the former president’s popularity with the GOP dropped somewhat, with 71% of Republicans saying they had a favorable opinion of Trump compared with 78% in a September 2020 AP-NORC/USAFacts poll.

Longwell, the Republican strategist, said the hearings seem to be having an impact even among Republican voters who are not watching the sessions or persuaded by them because they are a reminder of the tumult that has surrounded Trump.

“One of the things I hear coming up over and over again in the groups is that Trump has a lot of baggage and that there’s all these other stars, Republican stars, and maybe it’s time Trump should be like an elder statesman,” she said.

A number of figures from Trump’s world and outside it are seen as potential challengers in 2024. Trump and his associates are especially focused on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, at 43, is increasingly viewed as a younger heir to the former president’s brand of politics.

Other Republicans making increasingly overt moves toward a presidential run include Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, 45; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 50; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 51; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 58; and former Vice President Mike Pence, 63.

Pat Brady, the former chair of the Illinois Republican Party who is not a Trump supporter, said he thinks the “fever has broken” when it comes to Trump’s standing with the GOP.

“I think the combination of him just spending all his time, every speech, relitigating 2020. Voters typically look forward. They don’t look backward,” he said.

Brady said part of the frustrations voters have with their political leaders is the age-related.

“When you look at the leadership, I’m old and those guys make me look young,” said 61-year-old Brady. “This is a vibrant youthful country, fundamentally, and we’ve got a bunch of old people running it.”

____

Republished with permission from The Associated Press.

Associated Press


13 comments

  • Joe Corsin

    July 24, 2022 at 12:53 pm

    Vote RED for filthy hog grifters and liars
    Vote RED for low wage slavery
    Vote RED for far right propaganda
    Vote RED for trailer park terrorists
    Vote RED for lies in the name of baby Jesus

    • Driver Down

      July 24, 2022 at 1:49 pm

      You are a boring simpleton, with not a single idea in your head that was not put there by your puppet masters.

      Stay mad, stay controlled, stay impotent, stay enslaved.

      • Elliott Offen

        July 24, 2022 at 2:12 pm

        ^ Says a far right shill…duped Trump supporter.

    • Impeach Biden

      July 24, 2022 at 1:54 pm

      Look at the polls Corsin. People aren’t happy. Your President has the lowest ratings of any President since polling began. Yes you are a simpleton with your constant posts of your bullet points. DeSantis will be re elected Governor and Pelosi is going to lose her gavel. It’s coming. Get ready.

      • Joe Corsin

        July 24, 2022 at 2:10 pm

        It’s not Biden’s fault that you were dehumanized, defamed, duped, and deluded by Trump… worst president in the history of humanity. He knew he lost and was never coming back…and grifted his stupid supporters to a husk on the way out! What you got to say about “The Big Con” “The Big Lie” and the “Big Theft?”

        • Impeach Biden

          July 24, 2022 at 2:31 pm

          You are simply delusional. Biden is the head guy right now and bears full responsibility for his idiotic decisions. I don’t know if you have a 401k, but the joke around here is we call it a 201k now. We all had more money in our pockets, low inflation, a strong job market, low unemployment under the previous administration. If all this was going on while Trump or any Republican was President you would be screaming bloody murder.

          • Joe Corsin

            July 24, 2022 at 3:32 pm

            No…in a capitalist system this extreme…one can expect these kinds of things constantly. Both parties are responsible for things being this way because they let the market fly. Economy was overheating under Trump and he just sat on his nuts and cheered. Only so much Biden can do without serious intervention in the market… nationize oil and gas etc. The Republicans would never agree to this because their cronies make mega bucks off all the mayhem and they have fun blaming the Dems.

  • "Windy" Vohter

    July 24, 2022 at 1:41 pm

    You want fresh voices, vote for term limits–especially for the Congressional leadership. Biden, Pelosi, Schumer–out! out! out! Get rid of these dope-addled “Summer of Love” holdovers. That ship has sailed! The young people can plainly see how progressivism did nothing but produce a generation of disgruntled old farts, many of whom can be read on this blog. Bring in the younger leaders, with Ron DeSantis at their head. Let a little fresh air in, and blow the stale old air out!

    • Joe Corsin

      July 24, 2022 at 6:12 pm

      Bring in the new far right shills for the rich. Let’s create wealth and income inequality the likes of which the world has never seen…also poor culture of rudeness, non-empathy, and racism.

      • Jerry

        July 26, 2022 at 8:04 pm

        The liberals are the ones creating that inequality. Look at the big cities that have been run by Democrats for decades. They are run into the ground. Massive homelessness and the cost of living goes through the roof. That’s what you would get nationwide if we left the country to you socialists to run. Your policies are based on getting everyone dependent on the government….like a drug.

        Most of the richest politicians in this country are Democrats. Both parties are loaded with out of touch rich people, yes, but the Democrats especially. Democrats haven’t been for the working man in many many years. This is not your grandfather’s Democratic party anymore. These Democrats today are pompous elitist Marxists that want radical transformation of the country and want to systematically destroy our Constitution along with any political opposition.

        • Joe Corsin

          July 27, 2022 at 9:48 pm

          ^ Pure nonsense. Seek treatment.. you’ve been duped and abused.

  • Just a comment

    July 24, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    I think the war in dgs went wrong and I am not sure about the arguing sources but we know there is quite a few.
    And international development that is a slew of heep.in itself
    It is not. Fresh look it is seriously out of balanced development a long side of inadequate (capable of keeping a board)

  • Just a comment

    July 24, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    Usa was not really on the wrongful track people’s in the USA was …there’ was good things in store if it could have been completed. But too expensive of swelling of people

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories