Bernie Sanders Gains on Hillary Clinton in Bloomberg Early-State Polling

[thesquanderer]

11. Very revealing charts.

I understand the OP's enthusiasm ("YES! Now Bernie is at 24%!!! &quot -- after all, Bernie was barely a blip a couple of months ago. And maybe it's easy to think that his numbers will continue to grow as more people get to know him (after all, they all know HRC already).

But these charts show that these voters do know him, and still choose HRC overall... and it indicates exactly where the strengths and weaknesses are. They give Bernie his props for being authentic and for being more willing to take on Wall Street. But HRC wins on foreign policy, knowing how to get things done, and being perceived as being a stronger candidate in the general election.

So how can Bernie become more competitive in these areas?

For foreign policy, HRC's credentials are hard to top... Bernie mostly benefits in this area only to the extent that there are dems who, while acknowedling HRC's expertise, are uncomfortable with her hawkish slant. Jeb Bush announced a team of foreign policy advisors even before he officially declared himself a candidate. Maybe Sanders could make some inroads in this area by doing something similar.

Knowing how to get things done... well, Sanders has certainly been in Congress a long time. While understandably focusing on the future and what he wants to try to do, he'll need to find a way to also make people aware of what he has successfully accomplished in the past, as evidence that he can do more than just talk a good game. I love that he voted against things like IWR and Patriot Act and DOMA, but I like Sanders and even I can't tell you of anything he's actually accomplished. I understand that he has long been something of a David against a Goliath, and it's better to accomplish nothing than to facilitate bad policies, but if he could point to some legislative sucesses, that would help him in this area.

If he can address those two areas, that will go a long way toward addressing the third. By shoring up his weaknesses, and then continuing to gain on HRC, he will increasingly be seen as a viable candidate in November. It's a circular, self-fulfilling proposition: starting as the underdog has has been from the start, the more he wins, the more he will be seen as someone who can win.