Pause for a moment and imagine a Democratic Primary without Bernie Sanders….
Imagine HRC winning Iowa by 40 points, then going on to win NH by 40. What we she be doing right now? Would she be standing with Sandra Bland’s mom, or planing private dinners? Would she be embracing the BLM movement & focusing so much effort on Flint, or focused on raising more money for ads in the general? Would she have stopped taking money from for-profit prisons? Would there be any political capital associated with the African American vote in SC or NV, if the MSM was already declaring the Clinton coronation complete? Would HRC’s move been toward a Third Way centrist platform if not for this challenge? (Historically DLC style centrism has been the Clinton stock in trade)
If Bernie Sanders does nothing else this election season, his making this race competitive has accomplished this: Clinton can not afford to ignore the marginalized. She too will need to build a coalition.
I wrote this story 2 weeks ago on this topic : www.dailykos.com/…
Now the Poll :
American voters back Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont over Republican candidates by margins of 4 to 10 percentage points in head to head presidential matchups, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. The closest Republican contender is Ohio Gov. John Kasich who trails Sanders 45 - 41 percent.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton trails or ties leading Republicans in the November face-off, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds.
Which You can add to this Poll : www.dailykos.com/… which also shows Sanders stronger when the Independents have their say as well
Digging in: 54% of Independents (largest voting block) had a favorable view of Sanders
with 13% still not having heard enough about him. (room to go higher or lower)
Only 31% had a favorable view of Clinton with only 6% saying they did not know her enough to have an opinion. ( ½ as much room to move.)