The Border Make or Break Election
The border crisis is set to make or break candidates this election cycle.
“The Pollster Getting Under Democrats’ Skin,” wrote Ryan Lizza for Politico on January 27, 2024. “The man producing those polls is Mark Penn, best known for two things: his devotion to centrist politics and his longtime role as the top pollster and strategist for Bill and Hillary Clinton.”
“I think now their strategy is: We’re losing the top issues, so we’re going to draw the line with Trump and we’re going to make the campaign about Trump and not us,” Penn said. “And we’re going to say: ‘Do you want Trump or do you want four more years of reasonable Democratic rule?’”
“I don’t think that’s a bad strategic choice,” mused Penn. “I’d always like to see more issues, more agenda, more clarity. I think politics in general is just too negative. But as a strategy now, hey, it worked twice. They’re hitting that strategy hard.”
One flaw in that strategy: 2024 is not 2020. 2024 isn’t 2022, either.
Many things have changed since 2022; many more since 2020 — and not exactly for the better. A new/old issue is coming into play: The U.S. Southern border crisis.
Long dismissed as a right-wing conspiracy theory, the border has jumped to the fore over the past year, in particular, thanks to Texas Gov…