Taking a ghost walk with the Dem invisibles

You’ve seen “The Untouchables.” You’ve cheered on “The Incredibles.” Now meet “The Invisibles.”

The Democrats who’ve been running for president for months without leaving any visible sign.

When it comes to polls in August for an election that takes place a year from November, we know the cliches. Early polling doesn’t matter. There’s still time. A month is an eternity in politics.

But the cold, hard reality is that the 2020 “First In The Nation” New Hampshire primary is less than 190 days away. Most of the candidates have been campaigning for months. There have been two rounds of nationally televised debates, and in the relatively small universe of “likely Democratic primary voters in the state of New Hampshire,” these people have had time to at least make an impression.

Which is why it’s significant that several haven’t. Seven of the 2020 candidates don’t register in the latest polling, because not a single N.H. Democratic primary voter surveyed by Suffolk University mentioned their names. Not one.

Yes, two of them are Alaska governor Mike Gravel (who has since dropped out) and Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar, Florida. Hardly a surprise.

But also on the list of (literal) no names are relatively big political names: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton; Ohio U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan; and retired Navy admiral Joe Sestak.

Not one of the 500 New Hampshire Democrats surveyed by Suffolk is supporting or leaning toward any of these candidates. They’re ghosts. They’ve managed to campaign across an entire state without leaving a trace.

Other Democrats narrowly avoided making the “Invisibles” list: Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper got the backing of just one respondent in the survey, and one-time political heartthrob Beto O’Rourke was the favorite of just two N.H. Democrats.

The news is particularly bad for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who has participated in more than 50 campaign events across the Granite State but garnered just 3 supporters in the Suffolk poll. Not three percent. Three people.

It should be noted that many of the 20-plus candidates don’t get mentioned in national polls, either. But that’s not as significant because most of the candidates aren’t campaigning in, say, Alabama or Oregon. But voters in New Hampshire often run into presidential candidates or their surrogates while out shopping. Getting blanked in the Granite State is a big deal.

And the biggest losers are de Blasio and Moulton. The New York City mayor has 75 percent name ID in the latest Morning Consult rankings, among the highest in the 24-person field. And he’s the mayor of New York (as opposed to South Bend, Indiana), which means he gets major media coverage in the northeast. And still — not a single Granite State supporter.

New Hampshire Democrats know Bill de Blasio. They just don’t like him.

And while Seth Moulton’s national name ID is 30 points lower than de Blasio, his Massachusetts congressional district is literally on the New Hampshire border. And he still couldn’t pick up a single respondent?

Yes, polls are by definition merely samples of the electorate. It’s possible that a different Granite State sample could include an Inslee or Ryan backer. Anything’s possible.

But it’s hard to make the case your candidacy is resonating when you don’t show up on the board at this point in the race.