Dear Sanders Supporters

[thesquanderer]

35. Funny, I think the reverse.

I think it will be very tough for him to win the nomination, but if he does, I think he has the better chance of winning the general!

Some related thoughts...

... all the national polls are pointless, because president's aren't selected by majority vote (just ask Al Gore). You have to look at the states, and specifically, the states that are in play. (i.e. no Republican will take New York away from either Hillary or Bernie.) It's really way too early and there's been too little state-specific polling, but along those lines, this article is interesting:

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/07/22/poll-crucial-swing-states-shows-sanders-electable-clinton.html

... The right is more anti-Hillary than they are anti-Bernie, they've been stoking hillary-hate for decades, they can't possibly whip up that much hate for Bernie in a matter of months. There is a group who will be motivated to come out just to vote against Hillary, regardless of who the Republican candidate is. Sanders won't have that strike against him.

... The right, like the left, has a contingent that is just sick of "business as usual" (hence the popularity of Trump/Carson/Fiorina). Assuming the Republicans end up nominating a more conventional candidate, some of these voters may stay home rather than vote for either a Bush (or similar) or a Clinton, but may just consider voting for Bernie as a kind of poke in the eye to the establishment. And there are libertarian-style people on the right who may be drawn to Sanders on things like the patriot act, foreign policy, warrantless wiretapping and the like. He certainly isn't their ideal candidate, but "half a Paul" may be better than none, if the alternative is a mainstream Republican. Republicans do sometimes vote for Democrats (and vice versa)... you can't assume they are all a lost cause. I think Bernie can potentially get more of them than Hillary can. He supposedly got 25% of the republican vote in Vermont.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/09/18/bernie_sanders_i_got_25_of_the_republican_vote_in_vermont.html

(And I'm sure Hillary got Republican votes in New York, too.)

... There are so many other variables that will alter the landscape between now and the GE. For example, maybe you'd see a Sanders candidacy more positively with the right running mate (Elizabeth Warren?), or against a given opponent. I think it's awfully early for anyone to be saying he'd have "no chance in hell."