Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign has been steeped in the rhetoric of the civil rights movement. The New Jersey Democrat has cast his run as a quest to confront injustice and unite Americans behind a “common purpose.” But before Booker can overcome inequality and discord, he needs to face daunting early poll numbers and a perception that he is falling behind.
The Booker campaign’s plan to build out a quality team and detailed suite of policies also includes a tight focus on the first four states on the primary calendar: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Demissie acknowledged that his candidate doesn’t have what he termed the “newness thing.” However, he pointed to poll numbers indicating that much of the public has yet to meet Booker even if reporters have already shared many of his stories.
Demissie’s social media posts are also peppered with the hashtag #BrickByBrick, which has become something of a mantra for him and his troops as they preach their faith in groundwork over early polling. "The strength of your volunteer operation, and the people who are in the room to pick up voters when other candidates drop off, is a huge deal,” Brown explained.
Booker has also tried to distinguish himself in terms of policy. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has far outpaced the rest of the Democratic candidates by releasing over 20 detailed proposals. Booker’s platform is not as fleshed out as Warren’s, but he has unveiled more policies than almost anyone else in the primary field.
For now, those polls show that Biden has emerged as a clear frontrunner, followed by Sanders. The two leaders in the field of over 20 Democrats clearly have the highest name recognition, thanks to Biden’s past White House position and Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. But behind Biden and Sanders there are two other senators, Warren and Harris. And while Booker entered the race being compared with this cohort, O’Rourke and Buttigieg have moved between him and the rest of this top tier.
Not a chance!