2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Morning Joe: Millennials will start to like Clinton in the general election. [View all]Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)There is certainly a section of Bernie's supporters ( let's call them the progressive left) who might be atracted to the Green Party.
But his appeal on working class voters (the old left, if you will) far excedes the Green Party's appeal. Possible explanation: the Green Party's focus on environmental issues has - probabaly undeservedly so - acquired an aura of academic study rooms and their well-to-do occupants having an élite issue with emissions.
Then there is Bernie's appeal on all those who are fed up with the status quo. This is the largest group, cobbled together from left to right from irregular voters and new voters. There is a substantial (but minoritarian) section of this group who'd rather vote for Donald Trump ("at least he'll shake things up" then vote for Stein - as her proposals all have that aura of "15 year plans". Again, that aura may not be deserved, but it's there. If Stein can change that reputation in a few months, and assuming that Clinton manages to weasle herself into the top slot on the ticket, we'd be talking a different game here ( - we'd be talking a different ballpark).
Most likely, a significant part of Sanders' supporters would return to not voting at all - which is exactly why Clinton's candidacy would spell big trouble for the whole Democratic ticket. The irregular voters came out in force for Obama in 2008 (landslide), in moderate numbers in 2012 (thank goodness for Ohio's gratitude for the auto-bail-out); imagine what would happen if they came out for Trump in moderate numbers and not for Clinton at all.
The Green Party may have to adjust it's platform to some extent - and it's message to a larger extent to tap into the 40% of the electorate that calls itself Independent. It would do well to lend some of Sanders populism about the way every American system is rigged against millennials, the left, the poor, and minorities. It would have to become a tent big enough to house even those who don't immediately see how climate change is affecting their family income, and enthouse them to come out against the status quo by voting Green, and so on.
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