General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I've noticed some "progressives" seem to think Hillary owes them something [View all]stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Sanders had very little support and enthusiasm among African Americans and Latinos, two constituencies vital to Democrats for competing in states like Florida, Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and various others.
Due to that lack of enthusiasm, Sanders would have had no way of competing in those states. Those states are more than enough to hand Trump the election regardless of the rust belt states.
What makes matters worse is, when you can't contend for a state, it allows your opponent to reallocate resources, money, time, etc elsewhere. Trump was very strong in the rust belt states against Republican opposition so the idea that Sanders automatically takes them against Trump is a non-starter. Add the Socialism factor, which Trump would have played up to great effect, and the fact that the money and resources Trump had to allocate to the above states could have been reallocated to the rust belt and you have Trump taking those states vs Sanders and by a wide margin.