Bernie Has A Big Problem (And It Won't Be Going Away)

Senator Bernie Sanders (?-Vermont) is a smart and capable politician, and while I'm not supporting him, I do think he would make an excellent president for this country. But that is not going to happen. It won't happen because he has identified himself as a socialist for many years. That may be OK in Vermont, but it's not OK for most people in the other 49 states, and it's not OK to a majority of the general public.

While the United States is not completely a socialist country, the truth is that we have instituted many socialist programs -- public schools, labor unions, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, and many other things. But the public doesn't see it that way. They have been convinced by decades of propaganda that socialism is a dirty word (and many even think it is the same thing as communism). It's not reality, but sadly, many times a perception is more important than a reality -- and that seems to be the case here.

The pie chart above represents the results revealed in a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on May 3rd and 4th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error. It shows that a majority of Americans (53%) would view a candidate being labeled as a socialist in a negative way, while only 13% would view it positively. And Bernie is not about to reject that label (which he's proudly worn for many years) or apologize for it.

I know many of my cohorts on the left probably think this is something a good campaign could overcome, but I don't. As much as I love Bernie Sanders (and I think he's one of the best politicians we have in this country), I just don't believe the country is ready to support an avowed socialist -- and this poll backs me up.

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Meanwhile, the candidacy of Hillary Clinton is still doing very well. The Quinnipiac University Poll questioned 692 likely Democratic caucus participants in Iowa. That survey has a margin of error of 3.7 points, and the results are in the chart below.