I'm not voting for dems, i hate all of them, and this election is bullshit. So I'm speaking strictly from a horse race perspective here, since i do not care about the process or outcome.
I totally agree Kamala won't boost down ballot at all. The down ballot is already boosted (as boosted as possible anyway) from people voting because of abortion. Kamala is awful at politics. The more she's in the spotlight, probably the less people will like her (assuming anyone likes her now). But at least she can say the word abortion. Honestly, i think thats the only thing a Democratic canidate needs to do this election to perform competitively.
Kamala is not a strong candidate, but i don't know how much it matters. Dems entire strategy is abortion and negative partisanship against Trump. Biden is fucking both parts of that up by not being able to say, let alone speak about abortion, and by obviously being mentally unfit to an extent they can't hide. Almost anyone but Hilary could replace him and be competitive in this race.
Trump isn't the same as he was 4 years ago, let alone 8. He has a record that most people hate, and most people do not want a national abortion ban. Even as shitty of a candidate as Kamala is, i wouldn't say for sure she'd lose at this point. I think anyone but Biden (or Clinton) has a shot because of abortion.
it's abortion that'll be energizing the down ballot. Just today at work there were like 3 heavy ads about how horrible abortion rights being revoked during the hour and a half of news that was playing. They were very clearly new ads since they were talking about Vance now. It's nigh impossible to look at some of the stories just from the ads that were playing and ignore just how awful things are unless you're already just so deeply into the sauce that you'll never be convinced otherwise.
Remember when we used to say Hillary Clinton was uniquely qualified to lose to Trump? Because Trump is historically unpopular? I know its been 8 years, but personally the only change I make to that statement personally is adding Biden to that and thats only because he's dying in front of us. I don't think Kamala eats shit. If she loses itll be barely. Like idk when the narrative changed but I disagree with the change. I still think almost anyone can beat Trump. Theres already polls showing her either winning or performing better than Biden in the swing states and thats before she's selected and had time to actually build herself.
She has less rizz than a paper towel tube with googly eyes on it and she will face racism and sexism. Expecting her to eat shit is pretty reasonable IMO.
I think this perception of Kamala is a kind of Hexbear-bound phenomenon lol. She has a sort of charm to her because of her wine auntyness like I said elsewhere. She's not a total vacuum saltine like Pete or whatever.
she will face racism and sexism
Obama won two terms as president and Hillary won the popular vote lol. And the second of those two people is actually as unlikeable as Hexbear thinks she is (though even she had people who were charmed by her particular awkwardness). Idk why people here like play into the "a black woman can never be president" shit as if that itself isnt racist???? Like thats the shit the "Im KHive but i dont actually want Kamala to be president" shit are saying.
She didn't do well in the 2020 primary. Now of course this isn't exactly the same situation as back then, but I don't see her as a strong enough candidate to safely beat Trump. Winning the popular vote isn't enough, as you yourself said.
Desantis polled great too before he opened his mouth. The same thing would likely happen for Kamala. Hate to say it, but Gavin Newsom has a much better shot
Gruesome Newsom is a sleazy piece of shit, but you can tell he has some savvy political instincts of how and where to position himself. Immediately after the debate he smelled blood in the water and was trying to thread the needle of positioning himself as a potential replacement while also playing coy about whether he'd call on Biden to resign. You can tell he has a lot of barely concealed contempt for Kamala's ability to be almost as shitty and incoherent as Biden but managing to fail upwards and end up being VP even though she was polling sixth in the primaries in California before she dropped out and never even made it to the Iowa primary too. If he had an opening and thought he had a shot at winning a general election against Trump, he'd 100% jump at the opportunity to fuck over Harris.
I think anybody with a D next to their name and more charisma than a cave moss could beat Trump, but the short list of candidates the DNC is likely to consider (Hillary, Kamala, Pete, Joe) all fail to reach that bar.