All of these events, layered on top of Americans’ general frustration with Washington leaders and the political system, may present a new opening for political leaders who can offer experience — and a sense that somebody actually knows what they’re doing, according to political operatives and analysts from both parties.
In other words, “competence” — the basic, unsexy quality that has fallen flat in other elections — might become an actual selling point in 2016…
“The one constant is the sense that leaders in Washington aren’t on top of things. What keeps happening on top of that are the external events that raise the level of uncertainty,” like the Secret Service and Ebola debacles, said Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who worked on the survey.
Yang compared the challenge of Washington’s political leaders to a waiter at a restaurant who struggles as customers pile more and more plates on his tray: “Can he get back to the kitchen without breaking them?”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member