The allure of ‘strong and wrong’

‘Strong and wrong beats weak and right’ — that was former President Bill Clinton’s shrewd analysis 20 years ago of the Democrats’ failure to make gains in the first midterm election of the George W. Bush administration. The year was 2002, and Bush was still polling relatively high a year after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

A leader with either excessive strength or excessive weakness can be a danger to democracy. Right now, many Americans are troubled by President Biden’s perceived weakness. Last month, the Associated Press-National Opinion Research Center poll asked how well the word “strong leader” describes President Biden. Only 25 percent said “extremely well” or “very well.” Almost half said “not very well” or “not well at all.” CONTINUED

Bill Schneider (George Mason U.), The Hill


The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.