Good evening, everyone. As you are no doubt aware, it is presidential primary season. Now that Bernie Sanders is unequivocally considered the frontrunner after winning the first three contests, the question now is whether or not former Vice President Joe Biden can hold off this populist surge by winning South Carolina.
After coming in a somewhat distant second in Nevada, the pundits are betting on South Carolina to be the breaks on the momentum for the surging democratic socialist presidential candidate. The term firewall is used as a check on surging candidates, as the voting constituency in South Carolina tends to vote as a block in favor of the safe choice and known quantities. South Carolina was referred to as Hillary Clinton’s firewall back in 2016 as well.
The question that has to be asked in this case is if Joe Biden really is a “safe bet” at this point. You have a candidate here who has yet to win a single state, or even be a close second at all. Of course, endorsements are still going to come in for Biden, but that is no guarantee that voters will follow suit in the booth. As of the most recent poll, there’s only about a 5 percent difference between Sanders and Biden. That’s much less than what it was two months ago.
If one thinks of the “firewall” as a conservativizing stop gap that will help dent popular expression in the electorate, then it’s really not a compliment. Essentially in this case, it’s a last ditch effort of a failing campaign to be saved solely due to the fact of proximity to the last Democratic administration. If other constituencies can dismiss this, then why not South Carolina? Just some thoughts on the matter before the vote Saturday. We shall see.