The younger folks tend to support Sanders

[Drunken Irishman]

43. I fit the Bernie demographic.

I am white.
I am male.
I am a Millennial.

I would wager there's a good chance if you looked at demographics, the biggest support for Bernie comes from at least two of those groups (white & Millennial). That's not to say he lacks minority support, because he doesn't, but even in 2016, he consistently did worse head-to-head with Hillary with older voters, female voters and minority voters.

Most my age group is pretty dang liberal. They believe in abortion. Drug legalization. Universal healthcare. Debt forgiveness. No intervention and a rebuke of the status quo.

They also rarely vote - or don't vote consistently.

Which, as we've seen, has been the story for most every election.

In 2015, I stood in line to caucus in my state, at one of only a handful of caucus sites, for three-plus hours. None of those same friends did.

Bernie won my caucus but turnout was significantly lower than in 2008, the last time there was a competitive Democratic primary (Obama won with 57% of the vote).

In 2016, roughly 77,000 votes were cast.

In 2008, Obama won 78,538 votes on his own - with a total of 130,629‬ votes cast. That's a significant drop overall, and doesn't even account for the increase in potential voters in the 8 years between elections.

But like I said, a good amount of my friends didn't vote in the primary. They had their Bernie bumper sticker. They had their Bernie Facebook photo but they didn't vote.

I voted, though. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Hillary.

Why do I not support Bernie? Because I feel my idealism was cooled under Barack Obama. I saw the harsh realities of how Washington works and frankly, I don't believe for one second Bernie has an actual plan to pass his agenda. And, sadly, I also don't think Bernie is pragmatic enough to get a deal done if he doesn't get all he wants.

That type of mentality will only worsen the situation.

I think it's a valid question to ask Bernie if it's Medicare 4 All or Bust.

If it's bust - then what?

That's one thing I've yet to hear from him. If you can't get M4A passed, what steps do you take to shore up the ACA? Does Bernie even have a plan to do that? I don't think he does - or will. And that's my concern.

My friends? They believe Bernie can get M4A pushed through even a GOP congress. I don't know why they think it but they do. That's great. But they don't really have an answer as to why he hasn't been able to do it despite being a senator now for over a decade.

What changes if he becomes president?

I think political idealism is a great thing but the problem with these 18 to 34 year old voters is that it's all or nothing a lot of the time. Well that approach, unfortunately, hasn't gotten us anywhere.

Our greatest leaders compromised to get what they needed passed.

FDR compromised with Social Security. The original act only allowed retirement benefits and only to those who worked.

JFK initially envisioned Medicare to cover ALL Americans but it was only passed as a health plan that covered seniors.

LBJ compromised on the Civil Rights Act by not require Affirmative Action to help level the playing field (among many other small compromises).

We saw it with the USMCA. Sanders voted no. Okay. Does he think he'd get a better deal?

That's why, despite agreeing with Bernie on most issues, I will never vote for him in the primary. No more than I'd vote for myself. Why? Because I think we need someone in the White House that doesn't cut his nose off to spite his face and, sadly, I think we'd get that with Sanders. I don't think he has any intention of being pragmatic and I guess that's why people love him. But at the end of the day, what good is that view if, four years from now, Sanders has not delivered on any major campaign promise?