Bernie Sanders supporters would like for people to think that their candidate is the choice of the American people -- and the only reason he is not winning the Democratic nomination is because the system (the rules) are unfair. What they won't admit is that the rules are the same for both Democratic candidate, and neither has been treated unfairly in any way.
The chart above shows the real reason Sanders is losing. It is because millions more voters prefer someone else. In fact, Sanders finishes only third in votes cast this year for president -- behind both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He has gotten 3,167,708 fewer votes than Clinton, and 1,089,289 fewer votes than Trump.
About 21,102,510 Democrats have cast a vote in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. Hillary Clinton has gotten 57.5% of those votes, while Bernie Sanders has gotten only 42.5%. That's a 15 point percentage gap -- and in any election would be considered a blow-out.
Sanders is losing for only one legitimate reason -- more than 3 million more Democrats prefer Clinton to be their nominee.
Well, some Sanders supporters. I just got a comment that indicated that the Democratic primary is an indication of our broken electoral system. I pointed out that Sanders was losing by about 4 percentage points in national polling of Democratic voters. I wish it weren't so, but it doesn't change the facts. I prefer current preference rather than current vote totals, because they can be argued against. But Sanders loses in both, regardless.
ReplyDeleteBut there is something that has been bothering me as a Sanders supporter: seeing people treat him very much the way that people treated Obama -- just elect him and all our problems will be solved. That just isn't the way it works. I'm glad that the left wing is asserting itself in the Democratic Party. But that is the big story, not Bernie Sanders himself. The question for me is whether we are going to continue to assert ourselves, or disappear for another four years.