Objectively speaking, Donald Trump might be the only Republican candidate capable of losing to President Joe Biden in November. The irony, however, is that President Biden might very well be the only Democrat capable of losing to former President Trump — and they’re both on track to be the nominee of their respective party. 

Trump’s problems are fairly self-evident. Between his general unlikability, ongoing legal woes and obsessive narcissism that manifests itself as conspiratorial outrage, one would imagine that nearly any Democrat would be capable of walking away with a hashmark in the win column. 

And yet, a recent poll from Emerson College Polling shows looming troubles for Biden in the state of Nevada — troubles that have cropped up in numerous swing states recently. 

Of course, such opinion polling should be taken with a massive truckload of salt this early on in the election process. Plenty of things could still happen between now and November, and Nevada has always proven itself to be a difficult jurisdiction for pollsters anyway. 

However, the recent results from Emerson are still worth a bit of handwringing for Democrats in the Silver State — as well as nationally. 

For one, it highlights a few trends that will eventually prove to be problematic for Democrats up and down the ballot. Latinos, for example, have continued their slow exodus from the party’s ranks, as have African American voters in recent years. Furthermore, third party “spoiler” candidates could be positioned to hurt Democrats more than Republicans in this particular election cycle. And, most importantly to the presidential election, many voters are highly worried about Biden’s advanced age and mental acuity.

Again, a giant-sized asterisk should accompany all these opinion polls, but they nonetheless offer a glimpse into some of the challenges facing Democrats — challenges that have largely been masked over in recent years by their ability to eke out electoral wins.

The good news for Nevada Democrats, however, is that the state’s GOP seems hell-bent on small-tent politicking rather than building a broad center-right coalition of voters. From the caucus calamity that recently took place to the Washoe County GOP’s performative expulsion of yet another insufficiently Trumpian party member, it’s no wonder voter registration for the party currently lags well behind Democrats and unaffiliated. 

Locally and nationally, the GOP has shown virtually no interest in expanding its appeal beyond ardent Trump supporters — which, under normal circumstances, would be a solid recipe for electoral disaster. However, Democrats aren’t doing themselves any favors by sticking with an uninspiring and aging lifelong politician as their candidate of choice. 

As countless polls have demonstrated recently, Biden’s age and cognitive decline are quickly becoming chief concerns among voters — and those concerns might just be enough to keep the corruptly run and unwelcoming GOP on life support and “in the game” between now and November. 

To be sure, Trump is no spring chicken either; he is 77. However, the fact that we’re about to see the two oldest candidates in American presidential history battle it out for months on end isn’t going to make the concerns of voters less pronounced. Pointing out Trump’s own cognitive challenges isn’t much of a defense of Biden — rather, it’s an indictment of them both. 

In an election year when the only thing either party had to do to gain a massive advantage was put forward a relatively inoffensive, competent and popular candidate, neither is on track to do any such thing. Instead, both parties are in the process of catapulting the two least electable individuals one could imagine into the general election. 

One explanation for this phenomenon is simply that partisans on both sides are so convinced of the absurdity and unelectability of their political “others,” they seemingly don’t believe the quality of their own candidates matter all that much. And it’s easy to see why such a belief could take hold in both parties. After all, being the “lesser of two evils” has proven to be enough to win elections time and time again. 

This is one of the reasons the Nevada GOP’s recent incompetence and narrowing appeal among ordinary Nevadans should concern Democratic-aligned voters as much as non-Trump Republicans. If the GOP refuses to be a competitive, broadly representative political movement, the natural political incentives for Democrats to police their own extremist impulses will similarly erode — which is bad news for a state as politically independent as Nevada. 

To put it another way: In political ecosystems where one or both of the dominant political parties become radically unappealing to a majority of voters, it becomes easier for extremists and incompetents on the “other side” to find electoral success.  

If you need an example of such a phenomenon, merely redirect your attention, once again, to the presidential race — a race between a highly disliked, narcissistic, wannabe strongman and an 81-year-old lifelong politician who many voters are concerned is facing age-related cognitive decline. 

Neither man currently running for president represents the best either party has to offer, nor are either of them representative enough of the American people to merit a second term in office. And yet, here we are with both parties putting forward these deeply flawed candidates in the hopes that voters will find “the other guy” slightly more objectionable when it’s time to head to the polls. 

Unfortunately, this strategy is going to be successful for one of them in November — but that’s hardly an indication that either man should have ever been considered electable to begin with. 

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.