• For full details of graphics available/in preparation, see Menu -> Planners
Graphic shows Democrat contenders for the 2020 presidential election.
GN36131EN

U.S.

U.S. Democrats seek candidate with charisma

By Duncan Mil

January 11, 2018 - Democrats desperate to beat Donald Trump in 2020 are turning to celebrity power, with names touted including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Elizabeth Warren, heroine of the liberal community.

Donald Trump’s stunning success in November 2016 proved that anybody could win the White House. Now, with his approval rating hovering between 33 percent and 37 percent, he is the most unpopular president since George Gallup introduced presidential job approval ratings in the late 1930s.

With just one year left until the unofficial start of the 2020 presidential race, and encouraged by traditional political credentials no longer being a primary electoral requirement, the Democratic presidential field appears sure to be big and wide open.

Former vice-president Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are currently the frontrunners in the 2020 Democratic race, according to Washington’s Beltway insiders. But a slew of outsiders might also run, including billionaires and millionaires Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, of “The Fast and the Furious” movie franchise.

And every dollar will count. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the bill for the 2016 presidential and congressional elections came to a record $6.5 billion. The presidential race alone cost $2.4 billion. Of that, Hillary Clinton’s campaign spent $768 million and Donald Trump’s spent $398 million.

Trump’s 2020 Committee for the Re-Election of the President (also known as CREEP) has already raised a staggering $36 million, with at least $14 million from so-called “small dollar” donors. Elizabeth Warren has a war chest of $12.8 million.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 11/01/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
Advertisement