"Eighty-five percent of Biden supporters said they would be inclined to back Sanders over Trump..." [View all]

[Don1]

Article from a few weeks back.

The survey, conducted from March 11 to 15, also showed that this represents a notable improvement in Democratic Party solidarity since the 2016 elections. This year, Morning Consult found just 7 percent of Sanders voters would support Trump over Biden. This is down from a 12-percent share of his supporters in 2016 who backed Trump over Hillary Clinton, according to the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group.

While one hopes to have as many voters as possible, this is a glass three quarters full, not a glass half empty. That is to say, it's actually GOOD NEWS. It shows that solidarity is BETTER than in 2016. This is good news for the Biden campaign.

Eighty-five percent of Biden supporters said they would be inclined to back Sanders over Trump, a mere three-point improvement over Sanders' numbers. Tracking where Sanders' voters will go is significant because Biden is poised to clinch the nomination and will need to maintain a coalition that includes disaffected Sanders supporters in order to ensure a general election victory. The latest FiveThirtyEight primary forecast calls Biden's nomination a near-certainty.

While I am sure that if one uses different methodologies and slightly different sample of persons, one will get slightly different answers like 10% of Biden supporters might not support Sanders or 20% of Biden supporters might not support Sanders, it's going to be close to 15%. You might expect that using the ABC methodology to give about 12% since they had Sanders at 15% whereas this one had his supporters at 18%.

BUT again, this is GOOD NEWS because it's not merely about typical registered Democrats but instead independents who lean Democratic or independents who could even lean Republican (like Never Trumpers) and moderates. A successful campaign will be a broad coalition of moderates, independents, progressives and have an energized base. So this number is a sign of a broad coalition and the Biden campaign should be congratulated for picking up these people.

In recent days, the former vice president has appeared to make overtures to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, signaling an embrace of policy positions that he did not back in the past.

"Bernie has put forward a plan that would make public colleges and universities free for families whose income is below $125,000," Biden tweeted Sunday. "It's a good idea, and after consideration, I am proud to add it to my platform."

This is also GOOD NEWS. It shows one of Joe Biden's great qualities which is that he is willing to compromise and collaborate and get things done.

Joe Biden is doing exactly what needs to be done. He's getting a broad coalition including moderates and independents and progressives and he's energizing the base and in the near future Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and President Obama are going to campaign for him.