Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
Bernie Sanders You are in the Sanders 2020 Group. Only members who have selected Bernie Sanders as their preferred Democratic presidential candidate are permitted to post in this Group.

Nanjeanne

(4,878 posts)
Tue Feb 18, 2020, 07:30 PM Feb 2020

Regular Democrats Just Aren't Worried About Bernie

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/regular-democrats-arent-least-bit-worried-about-bernie/606688/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Judging by media coverage and the comments of party luminaries, you might think Democrats are bitterly polarized over Bernie Sanders’s presidential bid. Last month, Hillary Clinton declared that “nobody likes” the Vermont senator. Last week, James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, said he was “scared to death” of the Sanders campaign, which he likened to “a cult.” Since the beginning of the year, news organization after news organization has speculated that Sanders’s success may set off a Democratic “civil war.”

But polls of Democratic voters show nothing of the sort. Among ordinary Democrats, Sanders is strikingly popular, even with voters who favor his rivals. He sparks less opposition—in some cases far less—than his major competitors. On paper, he appears well positioned to unify the party should he win its presidential nomination.

So why all the talk of civil war? Because Sanders is far more divisive among Democratic elites—who prize institutional loyalty and ideological moderation—than Democratic voters. The danger is that by projecting their own anxieties onto rank-and-file Democrats, party insiders are exaggerating the risk of a schism if Sanders wins the nomination, and overlooking the greater risk that the party could fracture if they engineer his defeat.


*snip*

Although political handicappers sometimes presume that centrist Democrats are hostile to Sanders, the Quinnipiac poll suggests that Sanders enjoys widespread affection even outside his ideological lane. Among self-described moderate or conservative Democrats, Sanders boasts a net favorability rating of 43 points—far higher than Biden or Bloomberg fares among the “very liberal” Democrats who compose Sanders’s ideological base. Ninety-eight percent of Warren supporters, 97 percent of Buttigieg supporters and 92 percent of Biden supporters say they would back Sanders against Donald Trump. Only among Bloomberg supporters does that number dip to 83 percent. Overall, Sanders voters are significantly more likely to say that they won’t back one of his rivals in the general election than the other way around. Sanders’s critics within the party may resent his supporters for threatening to stay home in November. But most Democratic voters, including most centrist ones, have little problem with Sanders himself.
3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

Nanjeanne

(4,878 posts)
2. Oh me too! I admire this man so much for his perseverance in the wake of such
Tue Feb 18, 2020, 07:57 PM
Feb 2020

horrific media "reporting".

airmid

(500 posts)
3. Same here...It seems to be a theme. The better Bernie does the more vitriol is spewed. I just hope
Wed Feb 19, 2020, 05:21 AM
Feb 2020

that the main Primary forum I see here and the Twitterverse is not reflective of the whole field. I used to come to DU for solace and sanity. Now I find very little I can tolerate here anymore. I wasn't here for the last election, but my understanding is it was very bad. This article gives me hope.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»Sanders 2020»Regular Democrats Just Ar...