There is a reason why it worked for the Republicans and won’t work for the Democrats: the bases are vastly different.

Republicans, by in large, will vote for a Republican even if they don’t like the candidate. I saw this a lot when I was a poll worker. They don’t even care about their platform. So long as they have an R at the end of their name, they get a vote from Republicans.

While Democrats vote Democrat, they’ll only come out to vote if they are energized. They won’t come out to vote if they don’t feel like you’ve earned it. We saw this in 2016 and 2024.

Simply put, Republicans are more reliable voters.

The Democrat tent is very large with often conflicting values. A lot of single-issue voters will simply stay home than to vote for a Democrat. Because of this, it is rare when a candidate will arise that will galvanize and coalesce the base.

The last time it happened was Obama.