Sanders Demolishes Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar Head-to-Head, Says New Poll

[NJCher]

attn Warren supporters: stick with it to the last paragraph.

snip

Yahoo News and YouGov are out with a new poll showing that Sanders beats all of his top competitors in head-to-head races. He currently wins at least 53 percent of the vote against Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar, none of whom break more than 38 percent. The matchup is closer with Biden, who gets 44 percent versus 48 percent of Sanders. But the tightest race is with Warren, who trails him 42 percent to 44 percent, with plenty of undecideds.

It’s just one poll. But it does seem to reflect one of Sanders’ often overlooked strengths: The man is incredibly well-liked by normal Democratic voters. Sure, he might terrify some Democratic National Committee officials and cable news talking heads. Hillary Clinton and her hangers-on still have it out for the guy. But according to Morning Consult, he’s got a 74 percent favorability rating within the party, higher than any other candidate. A lot of current Biden, Buttigieg, Warren, and even Bloomberg supporters currently list him as a second choice.

This might not make a ton of sense if you assume that voters pick their candidates on strictly rational ideological grounds. But that’s obviously not how the world works. People vote for candidates because they’re familiar, because they seem trustworthy, or just because they’re kind of likable. There are some Democrats out there who are probably planning to vote for Bloomberg right now because they’ve been inundated with his ads, but otherwise would default to Sanders because they’ve been hearing his name since 2016 and kind of enjoy the guy’s attitude. It might not make sense to a news junkie, but in the grand scheme of American voters, news junkies are really the outliers. (note from OP: this means you! And me, too!)

It’s possible that candidates like Klobuchar or Buttigieg could gain ground one-on-one against Sanders as they become more familiar to the national electorate. But if moderates take this latest head-to-head poll seriously, it really suggests that—as of now—their best shot at beating Sanders is to coalesce around Biden or Warren. Personally, I’d suggest the latter. Biden still has residual love left over from his days as Joe the Veep. But watching him talk feels like staring into an RCA TV from 1985 with a busted antenna: The picture and sound are half static, and you’re never really sure when the whole thing is going to break down for good. Warren, on the other hand, is a vibrant, avowed capitalist who has pretty much promised that she won’t waste time trying to pass single-payer health care. Sure, her campaign’s flagging, but in our current election cycle, this staunch progressive just might be the last great neoliberal hope.

Link

[BusyBeingBest]

1. Bernie's not my first choice this time, but he has his strengths.

[brooklynite]

6. ...and his weaknesses

[BusyBeingBest]

8. Sure. He's an old Democratic Socialist.

Amazing the support he has retained even with so many other choices this time around.

[OliverQ]

19. Name a single candidate without those.

[brooklynite]

20. None whatsoever..but Sanders' weaknesses seem to exceed the others

[OliverQ]

22. Really? His weaknesses seem less than others, especially Biden and Bloomberg.

[Mz Pip]

24. Praising Castro won't help win Florida

The GOP have 40 years of opposition research. They’ll use it.

[OliverQ]

25. No Democrat is winning Florida.

And Praising Castro would only affect the older Cuban vote. The rest of Latinos are more liberal and don't care about Castro.

The GOP's years of oppo research is meaningless. Most of the crap they have, no one cares about and there is nothing on Bernie that Trump hasn't done far worse. Bernie is still superior to Trump every way imaginable.

[jcmaine72]

2. Bern baby Bern!

[democratisphere]

3. Data from wacky polls is meaningless.

[thesquanderer]

4. But there is something to be said for putting up the candidate who has the highest favorables (nt)

[democratisphere]

7. Favorables from wacky polls are also meaningless.

[thesquanderer]

12. Can you point to any favorable/unfavorable poll that you don't think is wacky?

Because from what I can remember, Sanders beats most if not all other candidates in any favorability poll I've seen. They can't ALL be wacky, right?

[Garrett78]

9. If any other candidate had such a positive favorability rating, folks would be touting it.

But this is a site where a racist, misogynistic asshole who has been buying support for decades is somehow acceptable.

[questionseverything]

33. if i am correct about who you are speaking of

he is also a republican

[NJCher]

13. define "wacky poll"

Please include methodology in your explanation.

[Scotch-Irish]

15. Not a wacky poll.

Not meaningless.

[democratisphere]

16. YouGov is a wacky online poll with a B minus rating.

Later mentions BS socialist position and how it is a known vote killer.

[NJCher]

18. I'm puzzled by your term

"wacky." I think you may be trying to say something else.

And dependence upon one polling organization doesn't produce a very significant statement

[democratisphere]

21. See if this helps.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wacky

[NJCher]

28. I know what it means

thanks for the link, but unnecessary.

I guess we English professors would call this a word choice problem.

[calguy]

29. For the definition of "wacky",

Look into a mirror for five minutes.

[NJCher]

30. why aren't you a real

knee slapper!

What a wit.

[HarlanPepper]

26. Oh you don't believe in life after love?!1

[brooklynite]

5. Meaningless...Primaries aren't necessarily a head to head matchup

[thesquanderer]

14. Not meaningless if it tells us that no other candidate appeals to more Dems than Sanders does.

Different people may prefer different other candidates (which is why he may just get 25%-30% if running against a whole bunch of them), but -- besides leading in votes -- it does provide another way to show that no SINGLE candidate has as much support as he has, even if an amalgam of ALL the other candidates polls better (i.e. why he wins with just 25% or whatever). The thing is, there's no way to actually vote for an amalgam of all the others... in the end, you can only vote for one. So this kind of theoretical head-to-head further demonstrates that, if we can have only one candidate, Sanders is the one with the most support. Which I think is interesting information.

[jrthin]

10. Shouldn't he direct his ire at 45

and not the Dem. candidates? Isn't his behavior destructive to the Dems?

[mdelaguna]

11. I appreciate both Sanders and Bloomberg for their attitudes

Would be glad to vote for either (or any other nominee). Just their ‘tudes match the anger (fire!) I perceive is needed for these times.

[Aaron Pereira]

17. The MSNBC and CNN punditry should read this article.

They seem to have convinced themselves that supporters of other candidates fall into the "never Bernie" category. Somehow the race is a two person match between Bernie Sanders and everyone else and everyone else put together means Sanders is losing. Facts say otherwise.

[MoonlitKnight]

23. And if they don't want Bernie,

Warren is the one with the best shot to beat him.

[HarlanPepper]

27. ...

[Olafjoy]

31. Ummmmm me

and my suburban college educated women friends who are In our 40’s. And 50’s who vote in every election and knock on doors and register voters and who are regular Democrats here in Arizona don’t like Bernie. Sorry. We don’t. So don’t generalize and say we do. Thank You.

[questionseverything]

34. apprciate your work

when is the last time az went dem in a presidential election?

[creeksneakers2]

32. I don't see what is likable about him

He pokes and lectures.

[AmericanGraffiti]

35. There it is!