General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Just a couple reasons Bernie can win the nomination IF he even runs [View all]NewJeffCT
(56,848 posts)That said, I did not support Clinton in 2016, either. Nor did I support Obama or Clinton in 2008. I did not donate any money until we had a Democratic nominee.
The reason that Bernie can win the nomination in 2020 is that he has his base of support among the Democrats and the left. In 2016, Clinton had much of the rest of the Democratic Party, including minorities. After O'Malley had little impact on the race, it was just Clinton or Sanders.
Right now, Warren says she will not run, so there is nobody to divide up the votes from that "Democratic wing" of the Democratic Party. In 2004, there was Howard Dean (for his vocal anti-war position), John Edwards, Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich dividing up the left wing votes. When Dean lost early, he was basically out of the race and
In 2020, if Biden does not run, there could be several candidates dividing up the votes that Clinton received in 2016 - Harris, Booker, Castro, Cuomo, Gillebrand, Murphy, Kennedy, and probably a few more.
So, barring Warren entering the race and splitting his vote, Bernie could get his base of 40-45% of the vote in primaries, get his caucus victories and the other 6, 7 or 8 candidates split the remaining 55-60% in primaries.