r/politics • u/politico ✔ Politico • 1d ago

Soft Paywall Poll: AOC leads Schumer in head-to-head New York primary matchup by double digits

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/04/schumer-aoc-poll-primary-new-york-030621
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u/lilb1190 1d ago

He is 74 now, which makes him prime age for a presidential run by 2028.

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u/Niznack 1d ago

I'm not crying I've got freedom water in my eyes

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u/Legendver2 1d ago

Thanks, I just laid a big fart from laughing from this...

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u/skit7548 Pennsylvania 1d ago

Chuck, is that you?

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u/Punkinpry427 Maryland 1d ago

No he’s over in the corner watching as Trump fucks us all.

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u/MNCPA 1d ago

Every hotel room has a single sofa chair for a very specific reason.

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u/BadWolf42024 1d ago

Chuck the Cuck

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u/UKRAINEBABY2 Maryland 1d ago

For J.D?

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u/Stonegrown12 1d ago

...The More You Know ★

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u/Thestrongestzero 23h ago

watching? looks like he’s got his pants down and he’s doing somethinf gross too.

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u/-18k- 1d ago

literally freed air ...

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u/FunkmasterFo Texas 1d ago

Rudy?

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u/mackinoncougars 1d ago

You feel Tariffic even

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u/azflatlander 1d ago

Stealing this.

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u/Honest_Marsupial_100 1d ago

I’m tarriffied, personally

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u/Rogue_Juan_Hefe 1d ago

That's actually Brawndo.

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u/JahoclaveS 1d ago

I’ve been reading a book on Truman and the bit about picking him for Vice President is kind of depressing. So much discussion of people being considered too old because they’re sixty something. Then we got all these 80 year old fucks in government these days.

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u/lilb1190 1d ago

"Ill do what I want because I wont be around for the consequences"

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u/DiscDownDummy 1d ago

The motto of nearly the entire US government.

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u/HexenHerz 1d ago

The motto of a large portion of the Boomer generation as well. "I don't care what happens 30+ years from now, get me my profits."

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u/needlestack 1d ago edited 1d ago

I don’t see it like that — I see it as they care too much about the future. They aren’t going to be here but they’ll be damned if they’re going to let the upcoming generation change the way things have been. So they’ll hold on to power until the last minute, fighting every bit of progress. They are outraged and terrified that the world will move on without them so they’re desperate to leave their mark, even if it’s giant skid marks.

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u/overcomebyfumes New Jersey 1d ago

The technical term for that is "extinction burst".

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u/GrayLightGo 1d ago

Mitch, is that you?

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u/bigmac80 Louisiana 1d ago

Baby Boomers will leave this world with a can of gasoline in one hand and a lighter in the other while a bunch of young people try to hold them down and get at least one of the two things out of their hands.

All the while looking angry and confused, screaming "why do you hate me, why do you hate what we do for you!?"

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u/mdonaberger 1d ago

"You should be thanking me!"

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u/Sminahin 1d ago

We absolutely blew up age norms after 2000. Gore was viewed as a bit of an old fuddy duddy in 2000--he was 52. Then we tripled down on all the reasons Gore lost to Bush (elitism narrative) with Kerry, 61. Then the party tried to run Hillary (61) in 2008 and ran her again in 2009, when she would've been tied for the oldest president in history (69 going into first term). Then it was Biden.

By pre-2000 norms, Harris would've been considered a strangely old pick for a VP paired with a very old president (younger president + older VP makes sense, ancient president + old VP less so) and definitely on the older side as a presidential candidate. But we treated her like she was the walking, talking fountain of youth by contrast.

It's...bizarre.

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u/SycoJack Texas 1d ago

It's...bizarre.

By the time the aughts rolled around, the youngest boomers were in their 50s. How odd is it really?

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u/MaisyDeadHazy 1d ago

The youngest boomers were born in 1964.

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u/SycoJack Texas 1d ago

You're right, I fucked up the math.

The point remains, though, the president got older with the Boomers.

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 1d ago

Pretty much this. The Boomer generation has steadfastly refused to hand over power, and it's not just in politics even though that's the most visible place for it.

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u/SycoJack Texas 1d ago

They're really fucked up the jobs market by refusing to GTFO.

So many boomers occupied low wage jobs after retirement just so they wouldn't be bored, causing downward pressure on wages.

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u/Vicky_Roses 1d ago

I think it helped Harris that she, admittedly, looked great for her age and could pass off as, like, a 50-something year old instead of the aging mummy that she is.

The conversation would have been extremely different if she looked old.

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u/AssignedHaterAtBirth 1d ago

It was reflective of the existing power structure.

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u/bootlegvader 1d ago

Gore was viewed as a bit of an old fuddy duddy in 2000--he was 52.

I don't think Gore was considered a fuddy duddy because of his age rather because he spoke in a monotone and without much emotion. I wish Gore won and all, but he sounds like he should be high school math teacher more than a politician.

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u/Sminahin 1d ago edited 1d ago

I would say Gore was the best of the lot by a mile. Some people are just born to be fuddy-duddies, and he was one--which wasn't necessarily a bad thing after Bill Clinton's misdeeds. But let me put it this way... This is the list of Dem presidents for the last 100 years, excepting VPs that inherited from a dead president: FDR, JFK, Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden. If you exclude Biden, the average age going into first term was about 48.

Gore was on the older side of normal at the time, and he was sandwiched between the very youthful Clinton and Obama. Gore was within the normal range of older for the old days, but he's the youngest of the new days by a mile. I think this is a sign of just how badly our party misunderstands age as a dynamic and how far we've shifted.

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u/D0013ER 1d ago

Anyone who would have dared to point out that Harris isn't exactly a spring chicken herself would have gotten crucified by the left flank for being both sexist AND ageist.

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u/Sminahin 1d ago

Oh trust me I have been. For both Harris and Hillary. Bet Kerry wishes he could benefit from the same deflection--nobody accused me of bias against old rich white men at the time. If someone's old enough to reasonably have teenage grandchildren and hit retirement on the job, then it's goofy to pretend they're young. God, Hillary 2016 would've hit very reasonable great grandparent age numbers while in office.

To be clear, I don't think 60 or 61 is a hard disqualifier (though we all agree Reagan was too old and Hilary would've tied), but we as a party succeed the most electorally when we brand ourselves as youthful reformers. Good luck selling that image.

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u/MagicalUnicornFart 1d ago

The Left was just as happy to see the D’s lose.

This last election was insane.

Harris/ Walz wasn’t a bad ticket. She was promising legal weed, a $25,000 home buying credit…and, had an amazing record for progressive causes in the Senate.

Kamala Harris is extremely liberal — and the numbers prove it

The Left really enjoys cutting of its nose to spite its face.

People are still standing by their idiocy to refuse to cast a ballot against Trump…for a decent Democratic ticket. Or, show up to vote against their GOP reps.

The Left handed Trump, and the GOP this victory.

With everything going on…I can’t take anyone’s nonsense about Harris/ Walz was bad enough to not vote against Trump/ Vance, and a GOP backing Project 2025. There’s no logic to it. It illustrates a lack of understanding of politcs, current events, history, and morality.

People’s lives are fucking getting ruined…and some nonsense purity test where the D based demanded Biden step aside…and, still refused to vote against Trump.

The people that refuse to show up, don’t get to complain. It’s no different than the leopards are my face situation the MAGAs made.

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u/Embarrassed-Track-21 1d ago

I’m sorry to say, but Harris’s policies were not that good on their own merit.

She also was never honed in a nationwide democratic process and it showed.

The country is about to face a level of national pain and change, in large part because of the Democrat’s motif of picking poorly and tepid, means tested policies that they struggle to deliver on.

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u/UngodlyPain 1d ago

I am a leftist, and got death threats in my inbox when I pointed out I liked most of her policies (pre Cheney) but disliked how old she was still, effectively pointing out how she's basically Obama's age and Obama was president almost 20 years ago... And said we should probably be aiming for low 50s/high 40s, not 60.

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u/pablonieve Minnesota 1d ago

As a leftist, how do you feel about Bernie Sanders remaining in office and running for President in 2016 and 2020?

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u/UngodlyPain 1d ago

Just like Harris, like the policies dislike the age... But he can't really get any younger, hopefully a good spiritual successor pops up. And hopefully Vermont can somehow find a good replacement for him, when that time comes, but for now in the Senate at least he's relatively healthy, unlike say Feinstein. As for presidential runs? I hope he doesn't run in 28; I supported him fully in 2016 and 2020 given there was no good alternative. Had like hypothetically AOC been in either of those primaries? I would've voted for her over Bernie. Hell had Harris been in the 2016 primary at the age of 52, I would've been hard pressed to decide between 52 year old Harris, and Bernie despite really aligning with Bernie on policy.

Age is definitely a factor we should all consider; but it's very much not the only factor. I'd vote for Biden over a 45 year old Donald Trump.

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u/Embarrassed-Track-21 1d ago

I’m sorry, but if you say you are a leftist and you liked most of Kamala’s policies, you really have to research leftist philosophy instead of just branding yourself on vibes.

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u/UngodlyPain 23h ago

I'm not branding myself on vibes, I'm acknowledging that I have to be willing to compromise and she was at least originally campaigning much closer to myself ideologically than basically any other presidential candidate ever has other than Bernie. During her tenure in the Senate she was the furthest left senator other than Bernie in terms of voting records. Was she perfect? No. But there's a lot more than just either they're perfect or liking their policies more than average.

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u/ThrowawayAdvice1800 1d ago

But we treated her like she was the walking, talking fountain of youth by contrast. It's...bizarre.

It’s bizarre that people treated Harris as the younger candidate when she was the younger candidate? Especially when the older candidate in this equation was less a human being and more the physical embodiment of the concept of dementia?

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u/Sminahin 1d ago

I more meant the whole age sequencing and normalization is bizarre. But yes, that too.

She would've been one of the older first-term presidents in US history. Yeah, she was more youthful than Biden. But I've got dead grandparents who still probably seem more youthful than Biden.

The understandable celebration of Harris's under-70ness shows how far we'd fallen. I think we've taken serious brand damage on this issue, and she certainly didn't do much to repair given her sheer lack of charisma and just how out-of-touch she felt.

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u/ThrowawayAdvice1800 1d ago

I just can’t agree with the out of touch assessment. She ran a perfectly good campaign that would have been a winner for any white man.

Sociology tells us that in America you can go ahead and shave roughly 10% of support from a female candidate over a male one, and roughly 10% less support for a minority than a white candidate. And it’s not necessarily the same groups withholding support from each, so you can stack the results. About how much support did Harris lose vs Biden? Roughly 20%.

The candidate was fine. The campaign was fine. The problem was the electorate. I can’t think of any way to fix that other than surrendering to it and running “safe” candidates, but to be honest that option disgusts me. I’m open to suggestions.

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u/Sminahin 1d ago

I just can’t agree with the out of touch assessment. She ran a perfectly good campaign that would have been a winner for any white man.

Oof, gotta disagree on this. If she'd been Cam Harris, a low-charisma, 56-year-old white male lawyer from Cali...I think she would've been such an obviously weak pick that she never would've made it out of that state (56 at time of VP). Absolutely joke of a VP pick and people would've broken down laughing if you suggested them for presidential candidate.

I saw her speak in the 2020 primaries at the National Urban League. Room full of black women and she went over like a lead balloon. I'm not sure if I'd say stand-up comic bad, but she kinda bombed. Klobuchar, Gillibrand, and Buttigieg all got better crowd receptions and none of them won the day either. She was just...so dry and uninspiring. There's a reason she got nearly last place. Minute I saw that woman speak, I said to myself "well, she will never make it to the national stage." And then Biden did everyone (including her) the horrible disservice of saying he'd choose a woman and strongly implying he'd choose a black woman, setting her up for the "DEI VP" narrative. God, I'm no Harris fan but I hate how dirty Biden did her.

I also think it's one of the weakest campaigns I've ever had the displeasure to witness, and my field was electoral studies & campaignwork. I've seen a lot of bad campaigns.

The candidate was fine. The campaign was fine. The problem was the electorate.

Oh god please no.

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u/awfulsome New Jersey 1d ago

I thought about what would it would be like to be transported back 60 years to 1965 and to be asked about the future, including politics. It dawned on me that every president in my lifetime was already born, and with the exception of Obama, was already an adult, and I wasn't due to be born for more than 15 years.

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u/Illustrious-Ice6336 1d ago

If you do go back in time, make sure you erase Lee Atwater

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u/awfulsome New Jersey 1d ago

lol, one of things I thought to say is "I'm not going to give you all the details, but avoid Atwater, Stone, Nixon, and Reagan"

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u/Osiris32 Oregon 1d ago

Part of the problem is that modern campaigning has become so expensive that pretty much old men who have made fortunes can do it.

Pre Covid I made a serious look at running for Congress in Oregon's 2nd. It's deep red but their rep at the time, Greg Walden, was an empty suit of the emptiest variety. I had spent a lot of time living and working out there for the feds fighting wildfires, and I thought I might have a handle on how to talk to those people and convince them to vote for a Dem like me who is pro 2A. I started asking around the local Democrats, and ran into an old friend from church, who just so happens to have been Superintendent of Oregon Public Schools and a two-term State Senator. "Hey, Verne! I'm considering taking on Greg Walden over in the other side of the state. What do you think I need?"

And his straight faced response was "a million dollars in your pocket right now, and the ability to raise another five million before the election."

And this was for a little-known district with a low population density and nothing important in terms of industry, as opposed to a district from New York or California or Illinois or Texas.

Modern campaigning requires media ad blitzes and a massive social media presence. TV, radio, email, snail mail, YouTube, tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, BlueSky, reddit, you have to produce a LOT of advertising content just to keep up. And yes, the Parties will help you with that, maybe. If you're an outsider or an unknown, and especially in a district that leans heavily the other way, support will be limited.

Sometimes you get an exception to this. AOC did it when she first ran. Maxwell Frost kind of did it as the first Gen Z in Congress, but he wasn't unknown to the party as he had been involved in organizing and campaigning since 2012.

Until and unless there is a major change to campaign laws that massively shortens the campaign season from two years down to like two months, or a bunch of young rich people suddenly decide to do something about the current dumpster-and-tire-fire, national politics is going to remain the realm of the rich old man.

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 1d ago

This is part of where the money in politics is so problematic. When only wealthy people and those with lots of insider connections to fundraising can run, all you get in office are the wealthy and insiders.

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u/shutthesirens 1d ago

Thanks for this comment. Very interesting insight.

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u/sixtus_clegane119 Canada 1d ago

The election industry needs defunded and reformed.

It also shouldn’t take 2 years to run a presidential campaign

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u/MagicalUnicornFart 1d ago

A bigger problem?

Older people show up to vote.

They vote in the primaries.

The vote in the general.

Their rate of showing up to vote as a bloc…is consistently high…and, then there’s this…

National Youth Turnout: 23% - That’s lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.

When someone complains about the ages of politicians…ask them who they voted for in the primary. Ask them how many elections the skipped.

People say they want change…but filling in a bubble every 2 years is fucking much to ask.

Anyone that doesn’t vote, and gets mad that someone else didn’t choose what they wanted…doesn’t get to have an opinion on politics.

Apathy is a huge problem…and, it’s a problem stoked by conservative propaganda. All those billions they spend on social media ads, and manipulation, too many people seem happy to see the D’s lose.

Apathy, and consistently not showing up is another huge reason young people aren’t in office..

The problem is not just one point of failure…it’s many

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u/SpaceForceAwakens 1d ago

To be fair, 50 was considered pretty old back then. Lifestyle and medicine were very different. Now my mom is in her 70s and in better shape than my grandma was in her 50s.

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u/omgpuppiesarecute 1d ago

TBF life expectancies have increased. Though we'll see how long that lasts thanks to the current administration and their cavalier attitude towards health and science.

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u/kama-Ndizi 1d ago

Life expectancy mostly increased because of people not dying young anymore. Plenty of people got 70 and 80+ in the past as well.

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u/goodybadwife 1d ago

What book are you reading?

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u/JahoclaveS 1d ago

It’s the David McCullough biography of Truman.

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u/deadsoulinside Pennsylvania 1d ago

Also because you didn't live nearly as long then as you do now. 60 for them was more like 80.

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u/fennis_dembo_taken 1d ago

Societal norms were a bit different. The people in government did tend to be there for more altruistic reasons. That is, they thought they were doing the right thing, even if it wasn't. So, they didn't need to cling to power until they were on their deathbed...

But, regarding the general age... I think the 'average' lifespan was more related to the fact that there are fewer people dying as children these days.

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 1d ago

It's also that there was a certain expectation that if you weren't trying to do the right things, that you'd get punished by the voting public for it.

This, more than anything, is the fundamental norm that Trump demolished, because he demonstrated that Republicans could be openly racist, vicious, nasty, and even downright evil/criminal and still win elections. It's probably the one that's going to be hardest to repair, and among the most necessary, because if politicians aren't even afraid of being punished by the voters for crossing a line, they have zero incentive not to do so other than their own moral compass.

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u/rotates-potatoes 1d ago

Just needs a couple more years to mellow out and not be such a firebrand.

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u/lilb1190 1d ago

Any more mellow and his slogan is going to be "vote Chucky Schoom 2028, man"

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u/GrunchJingo 1d ago

His campaign slogan could also be "We'll think about it."

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u/steepleton 1d ago

i thought it was "america second"

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u/Mavian23 1d ago

The "man" really ties the quote together.

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u/crazypyro23 1d ago

Makes sense. It's his turn after all. He's got this really clever strategy that's 1,000% guaranteed to work. Are you ready for this? He's gonna court all those moderate Republicans that are turned off by Trump and MAGA. Brilliant right? It can't possibly fail! And if the base gets mad, who cares? They'll vote because they have to! He's going to have Liz Cheney AND Mike Pence supporting him. It's a guaranteed win!

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u/Unhappy_Scratch_9385 1d ago

Actual Chuck Schumer quote: “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia.”

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u/BlueJeanRavenQueen 1d ago

Of course this quote is stupid, but as someone from the suburbs of Philadelphia, I am struck by just how stupid it is. The only republicans from there who don't like Trump are also the kind of people who just don't vote. They think politics don't matter and their lives will go on unaffected by anything that ever happens in Harrisburg or Washington.

The Democratic Party is starving because they wasted last election season crawling under the table for Trump's table scraps instead of eating off their own damn plate.

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u/Unhappy_Scratch_9385 1d ago

"Why go after the millions of progressive democratic voters when we can go after the 11 voters who give a shit about what Liz Cheney thinks!"

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u/mightcommentsometime California 1d ago

Because those “millions of progressive voters” are pretty fickle and can’t be counted on to show up.

Moderate Republicans and moderate Dems do show up. So do many independents.

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u/Unhappy_Scratch_9385 1d ago

Moderate republicans do show up....to vote for Trump.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 1d ago

They showed up to vote for Biden in 2020, and he won.

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u/Unhappy_Scratch_9385 1d ago

No, progressives did.

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u/Embarrassed-Track-21 1d ago

In a few more elections you will realize 2020 was an aberration caused by the shock of COVID and an expansion of mail in balloting.

It is way harder for Dems to win than what it appears in the 2020 electoral map.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 16h ago

And 2008 was an aberration caused by the global financial collapse. That doesn’t mean those presidents didn’t win.

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u/Embarrassed-Track-21 1d ago

This argument makes no sense. If people aren’t getting their preferred policies represented in a Representative Democracy, they should withhold their vote.

Blue no matter is so delusional. Almost everyone in the Democratic base checks out when Dems have power and the country shifts to the right. If we want any semblance of a European safety net (I don’t think this is possible in America, but that is what a lot of Dems claim to want to varying degrees) then whomever need to withhold votes until Dems run a candidate with the bona fides to at least try to make it happen.

Meanwhile, I voted for Kamala not under the delusion that any kind of progress aside from speculative bubbles will ever happen in the US, but just because I liked my investments to grow instead of whatever they’re doing now.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 16h ago

In our first past the post system, that’s effectively voting for the winner.

People should vote for what best represents them. You aren’t buying a used car. There’s a binary choice between two politicians. Abdicating one’s right to vote to others just to satiate their ego is how we get people like Trump.

What’s delusional is making the perfect the enemy of the good. You won’t move the Democratic Party by sitting out elections

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u/Any_Will_86 1d ago

I am back and forth on this. I do think their is a strain of R that will cross over to vote D but they only do it in the direst of times. Also, a lot of the PA ones have moved to North & South Carolina and Florida. The working-class voters are the ones who stuck around...

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u/fordat1 1d ago

Are you ready for this? He's gonna court all those moderate Republicans that are turned off by Trump and MAGA.

Thats 100% their strategy

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u/Okonos Illinois 1d ago

All both of them!

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u/Zahgi 1d ago

Schumer and Newsom are making all the right (wing) moves...

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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 1d ago

California and New York have so much money that the donors just get republicans to run as democrats.

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u/Zahgi 1d ago

Like friend to Real Estate guy Gavin Newsom...

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u/DiscDownDummy 1d ago

Well you see, their real constituents are the billionaires filling the DNC coffers. If you remember that, everything they do makes sense.

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u/Newscast_Now 1d ago

Money=Speech was going to end if the 2016 election turned out differently, but you know, 'Hillary too old" or 'Hillary neocon' or 'But her emails' or whatever. And now it is 2025 and people are still attacking Democrats for the very thing they should have joined with Democrats to change as the United States heads into a a new dark age.

Then they wonder how Republicans keep getting back in. Look at yourselves. After Republicans, the Council of Democratic Despair is the second most harmful political movement in America.

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u/randypupjake California 1d ago

Even during SignalGate, they are complaining about Hillary's Emails

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u/DiscDownDummy 1d ago

It's pretty insane to me you think the Clinton's who have basically been running the DNC since 08 aren't part of the big money is all that matters problem with the party....

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u/mightcommentsometime California 1d ago

Clinton would have nominated justices to overturn citizens united. The case was literally about a hit piece on Hillary.

That’s the first step to getting money out of politics.

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u/Zahgi 1d ago

Precisely.

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u/Lurlex Utah 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'd sooner vote for a fetid bowl of diarrhea-enriched toilet water than vote for that Schmuck in a primary after the bullshit he has pulled.

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u/SomeGuyNamedPaul Florida 1d ago

He's exactly the kind of useless milquetoast candidate that will help sink the Democrats next time.

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u/Pacer17 1d ago

The sad thing is the democrat leadership will probably prop him up because its “his turn” instead of a stronger candidate and then when he loses they will have no clue why..

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u/SpectreFire 1d ago

I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to drag an 86 year old Biden out for 2028.

Anything to avoid giving Americans a real candidate they actually want to vote for.

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u/shameonyounancydrew 1d ago

"We will win!"