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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother view of the "Bernie Sanders voters cost Clinton the election?" meme
The Washington Post has a feature article: Did enough Bernie Sanders supporters vote for Trump to cost Clinton the election?. I just ask that people read and note the numbers in the following paragraphs:
Two surveys estimate that 12 percent of Sanders voters voted for Trump. A third survey suggests it was 6 percent.
First, the political scientist Brian Schaffner analyzed the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, which was conducted by YouGov and interviewed 64,600 Americans in October-November 2016. In that survey, Schaffner found that 12 percent of people who voted in the primary and reported voting for Sanders also voted in November and reported voting for Trump.
There's a great deal of data in paragraphs between the above and those further down in the article; but, I think these are significant:
Perhaps the most important feature of Sanders-Trump voters is this: They werent really Democrats to begin with.
Of course, we know that many Sanders voters did not readily identify with the Democratic Party as of 2016, and Schaffner found that Sanders-Trump voters were even less likely to identify as Democrats. Sanders-Trump voters didnt much approve of Obama either.
Summing up:
haveahart
(905 posts)LongTomH
(8,636 posts)mcar
(43,194 posts)is not whether those Bernie to Trump voters were ever Democrats. It's the now established fact that some Bernie supporters voted Trump.
Enough to turn the election.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)The Democratic party wasn't able to hold on to those voters. I don't think they even tried!!!
mcar
(43,194 posts)is not progressive or liberal or even worth my time. I question their very sanity.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)You don't win elections without attracting votes, even if some of those come from people you don't like!
cwydro
(51,308 posts)??
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)Edited to add: I'm a loyal Democrat, active in local politics. I hold the post of Precinct Committeeman for my ward and precinct in Kansas City.
obamanut2012
(27,424 posts)Good try, though.
Stop refighting the Primaries and bashing DEms.
msongs
(69,469 posts)pnwmom
(109,388 posts)to help the candidate they viewed as weaker to win the Democratic nomination?
When someone knows their candidate's primary win is assured, that's something that partisans do.
Rhiannon12866
(217,146 posts)I realize that's hardly a random sample, but not one of them can stand Trump.
alarimer
(16,427 posts)It happens every year to varying degrees. Maybe they are closet Republicans and only register as Dems for their own reasons. I don't know. I do know that I am sick of Bernie being blamed for the loss. No, that was on Hillary. They made plenty of mistakes, including taking those rust belt states for granted and thinking they had a chance in Texas, of all places. To say nothing of structural problems (racist voting restriction, etc).
And 90 MILLION people who were eligible to vote DID NOT VOTE at all. So why not blame them? Or more importantly, try to get them to vote.
Nanjeanne
(5,396 posts)should be -- how do Presidential candidates inspire voters to vote for them despite party lines.
Cause Obama still won even with those Clinton defectors.
http://isps.yale.edu/research/data/d130
Orsino
(37,428 posts)...and your attempt to undemonize him using mere evidence may not go over well.
I think, for better and worse, Sanders brought new voters into the GE. We'll just never know for sure in what ratios.