Is Howard Schultz Really A Closeted Trump Supporter?

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has announced he is running for president -- as an Independent.

It's hard to think he has a real path to getting 270 electoral votes and winning the presidency. Note the chart above, which shows the opinion of likely voters to Schultz. Only 4% of likely voters (and an equal percentage of Democrats, Republicans and Independents) have a favorable opinion of Schultz.

And his net approval rating is worse than any other possible candidate of either party -- negative 36 among likely voters, negative 46 among Democrats, negative 27 among Independents, and negative 39 among Republicans.

Those are atrocious numbers, and show he would have a monumental task just to make his candidacy credible. Add to this the fact that he has no real political agenda. When asked about his agenda, he simply said it was to unite the country -- but he could not explain how he would accomplish that task.

While we don't know what Schultz is in favor of, we do know what he is opposes -- covering all Americans with health insurance, raising the minimum wage, and raising taxes on the super-rich (like himself). He has also called the Democratic Party extremist (even though they are much closer to the political center than the Republican Party). How is he going to make his candidacy credible with those beliefs?

With his low public opinion and his lack of a political agenda to helpAmericans, I feel it is fair to ask just what he hopes to accomplish with his Independent candidacy. Is he just trying to help Donald Trump get re-elected? That's a definite possibility. And it could happen.

Look at the chart below (from the same poll). Without a Schultz candidacy, all of the Democrats listed (Warren, Harris, Biden, Sanders, O'Rourke) would beat Donald Trump if the election was held now. But with a Schultz candidacy, only Biden would beat Trump. Schultz would drain more Democratic than Republican votes, and give Trump the edge over the other four Democrats.

Howard Schultz has the right to run for president (as does any other American citizen old enough). But why is he running? Is it to give Donald Trump a better chance to be re-elected? I think that is exactly what he is doing.

These charts reflect information in a new Change Research Poll -- done on January 31st and February 1st of a national sample of 1,338 likely voters, with a 2.7 point margin of error.

3 Troubling Aspects Of Schultz's Plutocratic Candidacy

(Photo of Howard Schultz, from Politico, is by Spencer Platt / Getty Images.)

Starbucks magnate Howard Schultz has decided to run for president as an Independent. He doesn't seem to have and agenda -- except to keep Democrats from raising taxes on the rich (especially him).

Here is what former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has to say about the Schultz candidacy:

There are 3 big reasons why Howard Schultz’s self-proclaimed candidacy is troubling: 

1. He could be a spoiler in 2020, splitting the vote and putting Trump back in the White House. Even Bill Burton, a former Obama adviser who has joined the Schultz team, publicly warned against third-party voting in 2016. 

2. His message is without substance (he uses empty catchphrases like “silent majority” and “common sense solutions”) and his policy proposals are zilch. When asked by John Dickerson on CBS This Morning what his “big idea” was, Schultz declared: “The big idea is very simple: to unite the country. For us to come together. To do everything we can to realize that the promise of America is for everyone.” To the extent Schultz has defined his candidacy, it’s focused on what he’s against—for example, Democratic proposals to raise taxes and provide Medicare for All. 

3. He represents the very worst aspect of America’s new billionaire class in politics: He simply anoints himself as a presidential candidate, declares he’s running as an independent so doesn’t have to put himself and his ideas through any party primary contest, and can spend an unlimited amount of his own money marketing himself and his candidacy. American democracy wasn’t built for this. 

At this point, there’s not much we can do except tell every pollster we hear from that Howard Schultz should go back to selling coffee.