2020 Presidential candidates and their dogs

A platform is important, but nothing says more about a candidate than their dog.

Quartz shared this list of 2020 Presidential candidates and their dogs.

I can not imagine surviving this world without a dog.

The Democratic field for the 2020 presidential election is already crowded, with 21 declared candidates, and several more waiting in the wings.

Most are running on similar platforms, promising a reversal of Donald Trump's climate change-denying policies, better wages for the middle class, expanded healthcare benefits, and electoral reform that would beat back the influence of dark money. But several also have a four-legged secret weapon-a dog.

Trump is the first US president in more than 100 years not to have a dog in the White House, and Democratic candidates who do have one are flaunting their dog ownership, a crowd-pleasing way to put more distance between themselves and the president.

Tapping into America's deep and growing love of dogs is a politically savvy move. About 68% of all American homes have a pet, the American Pet Products Association reported last year, up from 56% three decades ago, and 62% of all homes have a dog. Dog culture is everywhere, from Twitter account Breitbark News (Home of the #AltBite) that pens dog-based parodies of political events to the televised Philadelphia's National Dog Show, which drew some 20 million viewers in November.