Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger could have been president if he was allowed to run?

20 comments

1. I think he would have had a very serious chance of winning If the restrictions on having been a citizen from birth were removed.

2. No

3. Probs. I mean this country will elect anyone if you’ve noticed.

4. Probably. Nothing is certain, but he would’ve had a decent shot.

5. No. His agenda was blocked in California and the budget was almost always late causing all kinds of problems. His track record would have hindered any national effort.

6. I think he would have had a good chance. It impossible to say with any certainty because it is such a complex thing but I could see him doing what Reagan did.

   He was a two term Republican governor of one of our more liberal states.

   I think he’d have had a shot if it wasn’t for that pesky constitution.

7. I mean… the right elect Reagan bc he was a movie star, Jesse Ventura bc he fake fought people in tights, Schwarzenegger bc he was in action movies, and our last president bc he fake fired people on a reality tv show. I’m done underestimating the voters.

8. 100%. Arnold took 48% of the CA gubernatorial election vote in 2003, in a crowded field, and 56% of the vote in 2006 – all as a Republican in a blue state. He’d have terminated the competition.

   Maybe u/GovSchwarzenegger will weigh in.

   Edit: Also, [Demolition Man](https://youtu.be/vPBrt-mdNmQ) said it would happen.

9. Yeah. He was a Republican that could win deep blue California. He was an environmentalist as well.

   I think he would’ve won.

10. In a vacuum yes, but the issue is he’d have been running in a primary against incumbent Bush in 2004 or against Obama in 2008, when sentiment had turned against Republicans.

    If we had some weird hypothetical 2006 election, he’d have probably won

11. He would have been elected to lead, not to read.

12. Contrary to some people’s half-remembered impressions, he was not a notably good governor. His big win in the second term was against a very weak, less-well-known opponent. One of the primary things he is remembered for these days is leaving a GIGANTIC budget deficit that the next governor, Jerry Brown, turned into a substantial surplus. Granted there was a financial crisis in the middle of that but it’s still not a great look.

    I guess he could have had some success on the Reagan-like basis of “I am a movie star and a republican and I got elected in California” but I think the interest in his candidacy may have ended there. Plus it likely would not have gone anywhere once the financial crisis was underway and California was flailing to deal with it. It did not seem like Arnold Schwarzenegger had anything more to offer in the situation he found himself in. He also praised Obama for passing the stimulus bill, which probably ended his future in republican politics – if all the pro-climate, pro-health care positions he took hadn’t already done that.

    Nonetheless, it is a thought provoking question.

13. We elected one actor, why not another?

    “Ronald Reagan! The actor? Who’s vice president then, Jerry Lewis!?!?”

14. Holy shit.

    Imagine what the Presidential Fitness Test would be.

15. Yes

16. Yes as a matter of principal. I say that as an immigrant. I’d never want to be president but the fact that my relatives who were born here can be president while I can’t is annoying. Schwarzenegger would probably be the least bad Republican do he wouldn’t make it past the primary

17. If enough people voted for him, then yes he could have been president.

    But the Democrats might have had their own version of “show me your birth certificate” just in retaliation for what Obama went through. lol

18. I’m not really a big fan of this trend of celebrities getting into politics but if I’m being realistic yes I think he would have a good shot at winning

19. California was foolish to elect Arnold as Governor. The state was doing fine under Davis. Brown had to clean things up. Same thing goes for Ventura in MN. People constantly complain about celebrities talking politics yet will elect celebs to do a job for which they are ill equipped. See also Trump.

20. I don’t agree with everything he did, but the man had integrity as a politician and did his best for California. I don’t know that he could do it as a Republican though since he is far too liberal for Republicans and had the whole affair thing that many religious conservatives would frown upon. But he’d probably get my vote if he were an American born citizen.