Inside the Russian effort to target Sanders supporters - and help elect Trump (WP)

[thesquanderer]

18. Yes, there are Sanders voters who did not vote for Hillary. But...

Last edited Fri Apr 12, 2019, 03:13 PM - Edit history (1)

... for the most part, these were people who were never going to vote for Hillary, period. They were not "traitors to the party," we never really had them to begin with. And I wouldn't count on them voting Dem in 2020 either, unless we have a candidate who appeals to them.

Remember, not every voter is a Republican or Democrat, there are tons of independent/unaffiliated voters, as well as voters who were registering for the first time and had no long term allegiance behind them. Sanders had more appeal with these groups than Hillary did. So particularly in states with open primaries (i.e. you didn't have to be a registered Dem to vote in the primary), you had people who voted for Sanders in the primary, but were never going to vote for Hillary in the general. And instead of being happy that we had a candidate who was able to bring some of them closer to our side, or register new young voters for the first time, folks are mad at them for not having made the full conversion.

The point is, it's a double-edged sword. You can say "Those outside-the-devoted-Dem-base Bernie supporters were terrible, they didn't support Hillary in the general" -- but the flip side of that is "Hillary had less appeal outside the devoted Dem base and couldn't appeal to the voters Bernie was bringing in." It is not a shock that she couldn't take those votes for granted, and how much of that you put on Hillary vs. how much of that you put on the voters who didn't like her is two sides of the same coin.

BTW, I'd say using the term "Bernie Bros" itself is a circular firing squad weapon, probably best avoided.