Sanders Has Been Losing In States Where Income Inequality Is Worse

[Dem2]

Here's some irony: Bernie Sanders is winning the states where income inequality is lowest. Where it's highest? Those states are all Hillary Clinton, and her win in highly-unequal New York only made the trend more pronounced.

It's a counterintuitive trend because Bernie Sanders' whole campaign is built on inequality. The phrase "millionaire and billionaire class" (or some variation on it) seems to feature in every single one of his speeches.

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Direct relationship? Probably not.

The fascinating question is why this is happening.

Spoiler: There's no single great explanation.

Sorry about that. But there are a few things we can say.

One is that this doesn't necessarily mean that Clinton is beating Sanders at appealing to voters on the basis of inequality. Put another way, it's not that all of the Democrats of New York (the most unequal state yet that Clinton has won) looked around and thought, "Huh. Inequality is high here, so I should vote for Clinton."

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What it means

Really, it might be that there are lots of trends going on alongside these inequality numbers. Race may play into what's going on here. The south is both heavily unequal and heavily black. And American blacks in general are more economically disadvantaged than whites nationwide, as research from the Brookings Institution has found, due in part to what they call "deep-rooted, systemic problems." And it is also true that many black voters have been for a variety of reasons loyal to the Clintons over the years.

Sanders also appeals explicitly to rural voters in particular with his gun control stances, which may have helped fuel his performance in states with larger rural populations — think those large western states like Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho.

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http://www.npr.org/2016/04/19/474835424/sanders-has-been-losing-in-states-where-income-inequality-is-worse

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. I have a simpler explanation. Oligarchy.

Those places were too far gone - of course the establishment wins.

Drink Brawndo. Vote Clinton.

[Fresh_Start]

2. my personal experience

when things were the worst...I was the least capable of dreaming big.
I wanted practical help.

Its easier to dream big when you are succeeding.