The Center Isn’t Where Voters Are
By 
Some useful analysis from Ariel Edwards-Levy:
Just over a tenth of Americans think that both the Democratic and Republican parties are too extreme, a new HuffPost/YouGov survey finds.
Overall, Americans say, 50 percent to 33 percent, that President Donald Trump is too extreme. They say the same of the Democratic Party, 42 percent to 34 percent, and of the Republican Party, 40 percent to 36 percent.
Views of the president and of both parties have remained relatively stable in recent years. In four HuffPost/YouGov polls conducted since the summer of 2017, the share calling Trump too extreme has stayed between 49 and 52 percent, the Democrats between 39 and 42 percent, and the Republicans between 36 and 41 percent.
The poll comes after former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced he’s considering a longshot run as a “centrist independent” who could represent the “silent majority” of Americans that he says are seeking another option. And there is evidence that many people generically like the idea of a third party, although that impulse rarely translates into substantial support for any one candidate.
But most of the people denouncing the Democrats or the Republicans as too far from the mainstream aren’t disaffected centrists under siege from both sides: They’re partisans offering a negative view of their political opponents.
Which is presumably why Howard Schultz is running a pre-campaign consisting of no substantive ideas except “no policy should impose any costs on me, and because Democratic solutions do they’re bad.”
I'm still annoyed with that ABC News take about how Schultz was starting a policy debate. EVERYONE ELSE was having a policy debate. He just jumped in and started saying "ah-ah-ah!" like that Wayne Knight screensaver in "Jurassic Park." https://t.co/uT5YrPj1Gd
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 13, 2019
“I will fix the VA,” Howard Schultz says.
Ok. How?
“First off, diagnose the problem. We have layers and layers of government bureaucracy…I will fix the VA. It’s about leadership and temperament…I promise you. I will fix the VA.”
— Matt Viser (@mviser) February 13, 2019
…good piece by Ezra on why every premise of Schultz’s campaign is wrong.