detailed analysis of electability in democratic primary ahead of super tuesday - discounting the...

7/24/2019 Detailed Analysis of Electability in Democratic Primary Ahead of Super Tuesday - Discounting the Myth of Secretary Clinton

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A Comprehensive Review of the Data: Claiming that

Senator Sanders is the Less Electable Candidate Is

Wrong, and Potentially D isastrous for t his Nation.

- Douglas McRae

Following the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders campaign presence i n late 2015,former S ecretary of State H illary C lintons campaign and much of the est ablishmentmedia began to press a n arrative that f ocused on electability in the general electionas on e of, if not the cor e i ssue in the 2016 Democratic pri mary. As S ecretary C lintonsaid in Manchester, New Hampshire at a Planned Parenthood event, [w]e need aDemocratic nominee who will be able to beat t he Republicans and get the job donefor Americans. 1 This n arrative has become especially captivating to voters whoseprimary concern is ci vil liberties su ch as rep roductive rights a nd sexuality, becausethose liberties a re most di rectly controlled by the Supreme Court an d the nextPresident w ill likely appoint at l east one, and up to four, Justices on the SupremeCourt. 2 But, even without t he S upreme Court at s take, electability is st ill a crucialissue b y i ts very nature. As part of pressing the narrative that elec

Secretary Clintons campaign and several national media outlets havesimultaneously advanced the assertion that S ecretary C linton is t he more el ectable

candidate, an assertion that t he p ublic h as su bsequently adopted simply on its face.3

That assertion is d ead wrong. It n ot onl y has no empirical s upport, but i s in factdirectly contradicted by all available evidence. S ecretary Clintons neoliberaleconomic ideology no longer h as the necessary public support t o secure a win inNovember of 2016, and if she ru ns in a national election, the next P resident of theUnited States w ill most likely be a racist/misogynistic economic nationalist who has

1 http://time.com/4174587/hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-electab ility/ 2 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-enormous-unbelievable-stakes-for-supreme-court-in-2016(In today's Supreme Court t he next likely candidates for ret irement include Clinton-appointedJustice Ruth Bader G insburg, 81; Reagan-appointed Justice Antonin Scalia, 78; Reagan-appointedJustice Anthony Kennedy, 78; and Clinton-appointed Breyer, who turns 76 this week.).

3 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/19/who_will_win_the_electability_vote_129716.html (in exit polls, nearly 80 percent of Democrats i n both states w hoidentied electability as t he rea son for t heir vot e [20% of Iowa caucus-goers an d12% of New Hampshire primary vot ers] voted for Secr etary C linton).
http://time.com/4174587/hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-electability/http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-enormous-unbelievable-stakes-for-supreme-court-in-2016http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/19/who_will_win_the_electability_vote_129716.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/19/who_will_win_the_electability_vote_129716.htmlhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-enormous-unbelievable-stakes-for-supreme-court-in-2016http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/19/who_will_win_the_electability_vote_129716.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/19/who_will_win_the_electability_vote_129716.htmlhttp://time.com/4174587/hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-electability/


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publicly advocated committing war crimes. 4 If electability in the general election istruly the primary issue for p articular voter s, then those voters sh ould actually lookat t he ava ilable data, and make a reasoned conclusion.

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-KZxz__dvM (leading Republican primarycandidates Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump describing how they would addressISIS, in violation of international laws, if elected President).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-KZxz__dvMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-KZxz__dvM


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A.All Available Empirical Evidence Shows Sanders to be the Most

Electable Candidate.

To be perfectly clear and this i s n ot a contested issue all existing empirical

data supports the factual statement that S enator Sanders is more electable thanSecretary C linton in the 2016 general election. While Secretary C linton continues t olead nationally in most head-to-head polls against Senator Sanders, 5 SenatorSanders l eads by a substantial margin in hypothetical head-to-head matchups withthe three most likely Republican candidates, unlike Secretary Clinton. The mostrecent Quinnipiac polls show Senator Sanders beating Donald Trump by 6percentage points, Senator Cruz by 10 percentage points an d Senator Marco Rubioby 6 percentage p oints. 6 By contrast, Secretary Clinton beats Donald Trump by onepercentage point (within the m argin of error), loses t o Senator C ruz by 3 points (justoutside t he m argin of error) and loses t o Senator R ubio by 7 points. 7

This was n ot a uke polling res ult these r esults have been consistent amongsthypothetical general election matchups. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls forthese hypothetical matchups, Secretary Clinton beats Donald Trump by 2.8percentage points, loses to Senator Cruz by 0.8 percentage points and loses toSenator Rubio by 4.7 percentage points. 8 Senator Sanders, by contrast, beatsDonald Trump by 6 percentage points, bears Sen ator Cruz by 4.7 percentage pointsand ties Senator Rubio. 9 Similarly, though less w orst-case for Democrats, in the

HuffingtonPost p oll-of-polls, Secretary Clinton beats Donald Trump and SenatorCruz by 5 percentage points an d Senator Rubio by 1 percentage point, compared toSenator Sanders who beats Donald Trump by 1 0 percentage points, Senator Cruz by12 percentage points an d Senator Rubio by 6 percentage points. 10

5 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democrati c_presidential_nomination-3824.html (current most recent polling average h as S ecretaryClinton leading by 5 percentage points); but see

http://polling.reuters.com/#poll/TR131 (Reuters t rending poll actually has S andersin the lead for t he p ast ve d ays n ationally, ahead by 1 percentage p oint).6 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.html7 Id.8 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.html9 Id.10 http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster#2016-general-election
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.htmlhttp://polling.reuters.com/#poll/TR131http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.htmlhttp://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster#2016-general-electionhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.htmlhttp://polling.reuters.com/#poll/TR131http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.htmlhttp://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster#2016-general-election


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A review of the trends in the pollthe potential Republican candidates is increasing over t ime, whereas SecretaryClintons lead has been decreasing. 11 This trend matches what has been happeningduring the Democratic primary process, where Senator Sanders h as consistently

increased his standing in the polls over t ime.12

He continues to trend upwards,whereas Secretary Clinton continues to trend downwards. So as we continue tomove closer to the general el ection, the pure, raw electability data shows thatSenator S anders i s, and will likely con tinue t o be, the m ore el ectable can didate.

This nding is supported by other d ata as well, such as favorability ratings,which some individuals have been touting as an essential component ofelectability, 13 strongly favor Senator Sanders. Secretary Clintons favorabilityaverage curren tly si ts at 40.8% favorable to 53% unfavorable, and has b een trendingdownward si nce she en tered t he race ( her h ighest numbers since this election cyclewere her 50% favorable to 47% unfavorable rat ings on the March 28-30, 2015 poll,the last one prior t o her April 2015 announcement of candidacy). 14 Senator Sanders,on the ot her h and, is t he on ly ca ndidate in the race t hat c urrently has a n et positivefavorability rating, at 49 .1% favorable to 37.9% unfavorable. 15 And unlike SecretaryClinton, Senator Sanders favorability rating has only trended upwards sinceannouncing his candidacy (he began at 9. 8% favorable to 8.7% unfavorable at t heoutset of his can didacy). 16 Simply put, more people who know about Senator Sanderslike h im, as opposed to Secretary C linton (and, for w hat i ts worth, all of the othe rcandidates including Donald Trump, who currently sits at 57% unfavorable to 36.4%favorable).

Likewise, social media and internet presence al so t end to favor S enator Sanders,who beats Secretary Clinton in Facebook likes, has more than three times theamount of Youtube views, 58 times more reddit.com followers, 17 more than three

11 Id.12 http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democrati c-primary 13

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/19/hillary_clinton_just_cant_win_democrats_need_to_accept_that_only_bernie_sanders_can_defeat_the_gop/ 14 http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/ hillary-clinton-favorable-rating 15 http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-rating 16 Id. 17 http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primaryhttp://www.salon.com/2016/02/19/hillary_clinton_just_cant_win_democrats_need_to_accept_that_only_bernie_sanders_can_defeat_the_gop/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/19/hillary_clinton_just_cant_win_democrats_need_to_accept_that_only_bernie_sanders_can_defeat_the_gop/http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/hillary-clinton-favorable-ratinghttp://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-ratinghttp://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primaryhttp://www.salon.com/2016/02/19/hillary_clinton_just_cant_win_democrats_need_to_accept_that_only_bernie_sanders_can_defeat_the_gop/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/19/hillary_clinton_just_cant_win_democrats_need_to_accept_that_only_bernie_sanders_can_defeat_the_gop/http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/hillary-clinton-favorable-ratinghttp://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-ratinghttp://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/


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times as many views on his Wikipedia page 18 and generally around twice as m anygoggle.com searches. 19 Secretary Clinton, by contrast, has 8% more Instagramfollowers 20 an d almost four t imes as m any Twitter followers, with 5.5 m illion Twitterfollowers to Senator S anders 1.5 million though it bears mentioning that an audit

revealed over 2 million (41%) of Secretary C lintons T witter f ollowers w ere f ake, asopposed to only 10% (130,000) of Senator Sanders followers, the lowest percentageof fake followers of any of the P residential candidates. 21

But it is n ot only by sheer vol ume t hat S enator S anders leads Secretary Clintonon the internet. Putting aside trending missteps such as #notmyabuela and#whichhillary, a study into the potential s exist n ature of online comments foundthat t he words on social media associated with @HillaryClinton tend to be n egativefar m ore of ten than positive (8 positive words t o 53 negative words), as opposed tothose words associated with @BernieSanders, which tend to be positive far m oreoften (40 positive words t o nine n egative words). 22 Senator Sanders has a l arger andmore p ositive internet presen ce.

He is leading on favorability, and he top s a ll of the h ead-to-head polls with thepotential R epublican candidates. While Secretary Clinton has raised $130,443,637thus far, to Sanders $9 6,311,423 (she a lso h as a n additional $57,748,407 in disclosedsuper PAC fundraising), 23 Senator Sanders curr ently has a record-breaking 1.3million small donors, and while on 18% of Secretary Clintons donors contributedless than $200, 61% of Senator Sanders donors have ( meaning signicant additionalfundraising potential). 24 He has the popular support. By all available empirical

18 https://tools.wmabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders|Hillary_Clinton 19 http://decisiondata.org/news/political-media-blackouts-president-2016/ 20 http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/ 21

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472 22 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/ 23 http://www.opensecret s.org/pres16/ 24 http://www.cnst.org/Press/PReleases/16-02-24/2016_Presidential_Fundraising_Through_Jan_31st.aspx
https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttps://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttps://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttp://decisiondata.org/news/political-media-blackouts-president-2016/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/http://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/http://www.cfinst.org/Press/PReleases/16-02-24/2016_Presidential_Fundraising_Through_Jan_31st.aspxhttp://www.cfinst.org/Press/PReleases/16-02-24/2016_Presidential_Fundraising_Through_Jan_31st.aspxhttps://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttps://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttps://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/#start=2016-01-25&end=2016-02-23&project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&pages=Bernie_Sanders%7CHillary_Clintonhttp://decisiondata.org/news/political-media-blackouts-president-2016/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.cnet.com/news/2016-elections-comparing-presidential-candidates-on-social-media/http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-from-the-sunday-talk-shows-228/article/2584472https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/http://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/http://www.cfinst.org/Press/PReleases/16-02-24/2016_Presidential_Fundraising_Through_Jan_31st.aspxhttp://www.cfinst.org/Press/PReleases/16-02-24/2016_Presidential_Fundraising_Through_Jan_31st.aspx


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metrics, Senator Sanders i s currently the most electable candidate in the 2016general election.

B.The Reason Senator Sanders Is the M ost Electable Is Because He Is

Offering American Voters an Alternative Economic Ideology.

The reason t hat S enator Sanders i s the most electable Democratic candidate inthe 2016 general election is the sam e reason that D onald Trump is leading in theRepublican primaries: the p rimary i ssue i n this el ection is voter di ssati sfaction withthe status quo is the American economy and, by implication, the current economicideology in Washington neoliberalism. Economic neoliberalism, which has nonatural rel ation to political i deologies such as neo-conservativism or liberalism,essentially means extreme market deregulation and a focus on pro-businessmonetary and social pol icies t hat su pport uninhibited free t rade. 25 While such anideology a llows for t he m aximization of competition, it also resu lts in an indifferenceto poverty and long-term resource dep letion and environmental destruction. 26

Since neoliberal economic ideology became the primary guiding ideology in America with the election of Ronal

endured wage stagnation that ha s at t he end of the day resulted in actual realwage decreases when ination is factored in. 27 The economic elite have enjoyedmassive increases i n income an d wealth while the middle class h as si multaneously

endured the increased burden of health care cos ts, global integration with low-wagecountries l eading to the decimation of manufacturing in this Country, transitionsfrom hourly to salary pay classications that h ave weakened prevailing wage lawsand overtime protections, and the failure to implement s tandards to provide sickleave, family leave or m inimum vacation schedules. 28 In short, the American workerhas been steadily working harder an d making less for almost 40 years. 29 At the same time, 46.7 million Americans around 15% of

in actual poverty either t he working poor or t he unemployed. 30 The promise of

25http://www.globalissues.org/article/39/a-primer-on-neoliberalism 26 http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/american-nightmare-the-depravity-of-

neoliberalism/ 27 http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ 28 Id.29 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/middle-class-charts_n_6507506.html 30 http://talkpoverty. org/basics/
http://www.globalissues.org/article/39/a-primer-on-neoliberalismhttp://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/american-nightmare-the-depravity-of-neoliberalism/http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/american-nightmare-the-depravity-of-neoliberalism/http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/middle-class-charts_n_6507506.htmlhttp://talkpoverty.org/basics/http://www.globalissues.org/article/39/a-primer-on-neoliberalismhttp://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/american-nightmare-the-depravity-of-neoliberalism/http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/american-nightmare-the-depravity-of-neoliberalism/http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/middle-class-charts_n_6507506.htmlhttp://talkpoverty.org/basics/


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neoliberal economic ideology that t he rising tide would lift al l boats i s b een beliedby the fact t hat t he p overty level in the U nited States h as b een essentially stagnantin this Country since the start of the 1980s. 31 Trickle-down economics does notactually happen not in any substantive way. The poor stayed poor and then,

in 1996, President William Clinton gutted the American social security net with hiswelfare reform law. 32 As a result, despite massive increases in productivity andgross domestic prod uct for t he United States over t he past 35 years, we st ill have th esame percentage of poor i n this Country as before the electronic revolution, andmany of those poor ar e worse off than they were in the 1960s an d 70s. This is aneveryday reality for scores of millions of Americans, and it has very realconsequences. Approximately 291,000 Americans die every year from causesattributable to poverty and income inequality. 33 And deaths from suicide andsubstance a buse a fflictions a re act ually increasing domestically, unlike everyw hereelse in the world. 34 All around us, people are quite literally dying because ofeconomic ideology of what i s con sidered to be the wealthiest nation in the history ofall mankind. 35

The global economic recession beginning in 2007/08 brought these i ssues of wagestagnation, increased poverty and growing income inequality (and their n egativeeffects) to the conscious att ention of the average American, 36 even if they were notaware of the u nderlying economic ideology causing them. In other w ord, the average

American voters became personally aware that whatever mic

31 http://journalistsresou rce.org/studies/economics/inequality/poverty-2014-overview-researc h-trends 32 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/ 33 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110616193627.htm (reporting onthe res earch study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health,published in the American Journal of Public Health.34

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates- rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-nds.html 35 http://fortune.com/2015/09/30/america-wealth-inequality/ (in the F orbes 2 015 list,the United States is n ot only number on e, but actually has four times t he wealth ofthe second wealthiest nation, China).36 http://www.pewresearc h.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/ (2013 Pew Research Survey data).
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/poverty-2014-overview-research-trendshttp://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/poverty-2014-overview-research-trendshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110616193627.htmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.htmlhttp://fortune.com/2015/09/30/america-wealth-inequality/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/http://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/poverty-2014-overview-research-trendshttp://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/poverty-2014-overview-research-trendshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110616193627.htmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.htmlhttp://fortune.com/2015/09/30/america-wealth-inequality/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/americans-see-growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor/


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been enacting over the pa st 40 years was n ot good for them. 37 This created a va cuumas to what economic policies (and underlying ideologies) the average Americanvoters should embrace. For Democrats and liberal Independents, this vacuum hasbeen lled with democratic socialism, rst coalescing politically in the Occupy Wall

Street m ovement in the fall of 2011 blaming economic elites for American ails.38

For Republicans and conservative Independents, the vacuum has been lled witheconomic nationalism blaming minorities a nd foreign countries, rst coalescing inthe Tea Party movement during the 2012 elections. 39

In either situation, the primary motivation driving the American voters thiselection whether they are able to effectively articulate it or not is adissatisfaction with the current dom inant economic ideology in Washington, D.C. 40

The people want something to blame for their problems be it immigrants andforeign countries or t he economic elites and they want p olicies (or p romises ofpolicies) that will result in change. Of the Republican candidates w ho have adheredto the neoliberal economic ideology, only Senator Marco Rubio rem ains in seriouscontention. Of Democratic can didates, it i s S ecretary Clinton.

C.Secretary Clintons Economic P olicy Could Potentially R esult in

Donald Trump Willing a Head-to-Head General Election.

Right now, despite months of punditry t o the contr ary, Donald Trump is likely

going to secure the Republican Party nomination,41

an outcome driven in large pa rtby a large n umber of w inner-take-all (16%) and winner-take-most (25%) contests.Donald Trump needs 1,237 delegates t o formally claim the t itle, and the projectionsfrom the Washington Post put h im at 1,246 (the only plausible alternative is

37 http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016 38 http://timelines.latimes.com/occupy-wall-street-movement/ 39

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/teaparty/ 40 http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016 41 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-x/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/ ;http://www.vox.com/2016/2/24/11104782/republican-donald-trump-polls-delegates (slightly less denitive).
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://timelines.latimes.com/occupy-wall-street-movement/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/teaparty/http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/http://www.vox.com/2016/2/24/11104782/republican-donald-trump-polls-delegateshttp://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://timelines.latimes.com/occupy-wall-street-movement/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/teaparty/http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/23/donald-trump-is-on-course-to-win-the-1237-delegates-he-needs-to-be-the-gop-nominee/http://www.vox.com/2016/2/24/11104782/republican-donald-trump-polls-delegates


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Governor Kasich taking Ohio, a winner-take-all State, from Donald Trump, 42

leaving h im with only 1,180 delegates an d forcing a brokered con vention).In a national election, what suddenly becomes cr itically important i s n ot just the

actual head-to-head percentages (Vice President Gore act ually won the popular vot e

in 2000) but t he electoral college votes. And this is where things get worse forSecretary Clinton than even the current polling numbers show. As a recentHuffington Post analysis of the electoral breakdown demonstrated, to get the 270votes necessary [t]o secure the presidency, Democrats only have to win theNortheast, the West Coast, and the Upper Midwest, including Iowa. 43 WhilePresident Obama did far bet ter t han he needed to in 2012, his victory would havebeen undone by victories for R epublican rival Mitt Romney in just four s tates: Ohio,Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Together, those four Rust Belt statesaccount for 6 4 electoral votes. Even if Floridians, Iowans, Coloradans a nd all of theother swing states had gone to Obama, his failure to capture the Upper Midwestwould have been enough to hand the White House over to Romney. 44

Obama was a ble t o capitalize on his r escue of the auto industry, record turnoutand the fact that M itt Romney repres ented the neoliberal ideology that t he lowerand middle-class workers have grown dissatised with to win those States.But Secretary Clinton does n ot have those advantages t his t ime. The Rust Belt isdisproportionately working class and white (over 75% in Michigan, 77% inPennsylvania, 80% in Ohio and 82% in Wisconsin, compared to the national averageof 62%), 45 and voter t urnout i s si gnicantly down for Democrats, arguably in largepart beca use get-out-the-vote drives and new voter regi stration have been largelyabandoned by the establishment, since Senator Sanders does be tter am ongst newvoters and during higher turnout than establishment choice Secretary C linton. 46

42 Governor Kasich and Donald Trump are currently tied in Ohio pollshttp://www.bw.edu/news/2016/cri-ohio-primary-election-poll 43 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-donald-trump-becomes-president_us_56cb5429e4b0928f5a6c9ead 44 Id. 45 Id. 46 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420 ; http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democrati c-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warning Despite rec ord t urnout for R epublicans so f ar, Democratic turnout wasdown 28% in Iowa, 13% in New Hampshire and 33%, with millions of unregistered voters being leftoff in Texas an d Georgia.
http://www.bw.edu/news/2016/cri-ohio-primary-election-pollhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-donald-trump-becomes-president_us_56cb5429e4b0928f5a6c9eadhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-donald-trump-becomes-president_us_56cb5429e4b0928f5a6c9eadhttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warninghttp://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warninghttp://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warninghttp://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warninghttp://www.bw.edu/news/2016/cri-ohio-primary-election-pollhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-donald-trump-becomes-president_us_56cb5429e4b0928f5a6c9eadhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-donald-trump-becomes-president_us_56cb5429e4b0928f5a6c9eadhttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warninghttp://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1490972/-Democratic-Party-better-heed-Rachel-Maddow-s-warning


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African-American minorities in the leading among Latino minorities), 52 those voters tend to be far m ore Democraticoverall and therefore have a much lower likelihood of defecting over to DonaldTrump in the general election, whose xenophobic rants smack of racism (current

polls show him between 4% and 12% among African-Americans).53

In addition, there is only one real way to attack Bernie Sanders, and we all

know it: hes a socialist fantasist out of touch with the Realities of E conomics. ButTrump is in the worst possible position to make this criticism. Economists havesavaged Trumps own proposals as sheer l unacy, using every word deployed againstBernie and then some. 54 Simply put, Donald Trumps bes t campaign tactics w hichwould be very effective against Secretary Clinton would fall at aga inst SenatorSanders ( indeed, at n o point du ring the election so far has any negative personalattack against S enator Sanders gai ned any prominent t raction). Senator Sandersposes t he best chance of winning the voters in the Rust Belt St ates an d getting thenecessa ry e lectoral votes t o win in the general election. 55

This becomes even more apparent when Independent voters are c onsidered.The number of American voters who classify themselves as Independent(irresp ective of a ctual pa rty registration) is higher than either political p arty 42% in 2013 after the last major election (compared to 25% Republican and 31%Democrat). And Senator Sanders is by far the leading candidate among thosewho identify as I ndependent, 45% over Donald Trumps 25% and Secretary C lintons9%. 56 The Independent voting block has become the most important voting block inthis C ountry, and Secretary C linton polls a bysmally in it.

On top of all this, there i s t he very real chance t hat a n ew nancial crisis w ill hitthe global economy, as the Huffington Post recently pointed out. 57 Pointing to

52 http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-ght-219578 53 http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/trump-and-the-black-vote/ 54 http://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats- nominate-sanders-

a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidency 55 https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidency 56 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/17/1422117/-Poll-of-Independents-Sanders-45-Trump-26-HRC-9 57 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3e ; http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/071515/6-factors-point-global-recessi on-2016.asp (We
http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-fight-219578http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-fight-219578http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-fight-219578http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/trump-and-the-black-vote/http://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttp://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttp://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/17/1422117/-Poll-of-Independents-Sanders-45-Trump-26-HRC-9http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/17/1422117/-Poll-of-Independents-Sanders-45-Trump-26-HRC-9http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3ehttp://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/071515/6-factors-point-global-recession-2016.asphttp://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-fight-219578http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-hispanic-voters-fight-219578http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/trump-and-the-black-vote/http://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttp://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidencyhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/17/1422117/-Poll-of-Independents-Sanders-45-Trump-26-HRC-9http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/17/1422117/-Poll-of-Independents-Sanders-45-Trump-26-HRC-9http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3ehttp://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/071515/6-factors-point-global-recession-2016.asp


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decisively lower oi l prices t hat h ave caused banks a nd nancial i nstitutions to b ehesitant to sell oil companies derivatives and similar insurance-type bettingproducts, the m assive oi l industries ( and the cou ntries t hat rely on them) potentiallyface loses t hat cou ld ripple through inter-related governments and industries to

cause a world-wide nancial crisis t hat w ould be felt i n the U.S. (particularly giventhat n one of t he banks t hat w ere too big to fail have been broken up). SecretaryClintons economic ideology of sticking to what President Obama and hisDemocratic predecessors h ave done would present serious probl ems in such a harsheconomic cl imate.

Simply put, as m any are st arting to real ize, backing Hillary in generalwouldbe, in the words of Donald Trump, a d isaster. 58

D.Despite All Evidence to the Contrary, Mainstream Pundits Continue

to Claim that Secretary Clinton Is More E lectable.

Despite the data, the prevailing public perception as a result of the press a ndSecretary Clintons campaign is that Secretary Clinton is the only electablecandidate in the general election. It i s n ot as if the mainstream media outlets a reunaware of the polling and other data empirically demonstrating that SenatorSanders i s more electable. They are aware but t hey consciously disregard thosefacts, ignoring the actual d ata and forcing a counter-narrative upon the public

through the use of pundits offering nothing more than rote opinions. As themetaphor of global warming should tell us, disregarding actual facts i s a very, verydangerous rout e to t ake in any public discourse. But t he question of why is n ot anissue here, though there are certainly valid arguments that can be made how theestablishment and corporate media intentionally promote their favoredestablishment can didate, i.e . Secretary C linton. 59

But the qu estion of how the m edias pu ndits support their argu ments is, becausethose are factual assertions that can be proven wrong. The nal conclusion ofpundits and political scientists is completely irrelevant, becau se you can nd

may b e on the verge of another gl obal recession.)58 http://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/59 https://theintercep t.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-nancial-ties-to-her-campaign/
https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-financial-ties-to-her-campaign/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-financial-ties-to-her-campaign/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-financial-ties-to-her-campaign/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/25/tv-pundits-praise-hillary-clinton-on-air-fail-to-disclose-financial-ties-to-her-campaign/


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supposed experts on both sides, 60 and the media tends t o only use t hose expert s even resorting to novices and certied liars whose conclusions support t henarrative t hat outlet seeks t o advance. 61 It is t he argu ments t hat pundits ad vance insupport of their conclusions (and not the baseless common sense arguments that

are rej ected wholesale by sociologists)62

that m ust be examined, because it is thosearguments t hat utterly fail.

First off, many pundits begin their analysis by simply discounting the mostrelevant empirical evidence th e polls w ith a blanket assertion at the ou tset thatnational polls of general-election matchups a re u nreliable m easures at this st age ofthe cam paign (this particular qu ote is a common Politico.com assertion, but is justat home on CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC or Huffington Post). The pundits and mediatend to this st atement as a given, but I ha ve seen absolutely no data to su pport thisassertion, and I h ave looked.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Looking back to the most r ecent comparative 2008general e lection, the head-to-head average matchups for P resident Obama versusSenator John McCain at the end of February 2008 was 48% to 42%, not very far atall from the nal general e lection outcome of 52.9% to 45.6% (7.3% difference inFebruary versus 6% difference in November), and at no point did the numbers everreally that far f rom where they had settled in February (at w hich time, in fact,Secretary Clinton had been winning). 63 Indeed, as Jacobin Magazine recentlyobserved, [i]n all ve e lections si nce 19 96, February m atchup polls yi elded average

60 For example, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillary ; http://observer.com/2015/12/shock-poll-bernie-sanders-is-the-most-electab le-candidate-in-either-party/ ;http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/ ; https://theintercept. com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/ ; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3e ; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-hanley/bernie-sanders-is-easily_b_8957988.html all conclude

that S enator Sanders is more el ectable.61 https://medium.com/@JamilSmith/melissa-harris-perry-s-email-to-her-nerdland-staff-11292bdc27cb#.6vj2xppzy 62 http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the-myth-of-common-sense-why-the-social-world-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/ 63 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://observer.com/2015/12/shock-poll-bernie-sanders-is-the-most-electable-candidate-in-either-party/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3ehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3ehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-hanley/bernie-sanders-is-easily_b_8957988.htmlhttps://medium.com/@JamilSmith/melissa-harris-perry-s-email-to-her-nerdland-staff-11292bdc27cb#.6vj2xppzyhttps://medium.com/@JamilSmith/melissa-harris-perry-s-email-to-her-nerdland-staff-11292bdc27cb#.6vj2xppzyhttp://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the-myth-of-common-sense-why-the-social-world-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the-myth-of-common-sense-why-the-social-world-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.htmlhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/27/1440343/-The-Electability-Argument-Is-Dead-All-the-Polls-Show-Bernie-Does-Better-Against-GOP-Than-Hillaryhttp://observer.com/2015/12/shock-poll-bernie-sanders-is-the-most-electable-candidate-in-either-party/http://observer.com/2015/12/shock-poll-bernie-sanders-is-the-most-electable-candidate-in-either-party/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/https://theintercept.com/2016/02/24/with-trump-looming-should-dems-take-a-huge-electability-gamble-by-nominating-hillary-clinton/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-electable_us_56d1c0fde4b0bf0dab324f3ehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-hanley/bernie-sanders-is-easily_b_8957988.htmlhttps://medium.com/@JamilSmith/melissa-harris-perry-s-email-to-her-nerdland-staff-11292bdc27cb#.6vj2xppzyhttps://medium.com/@JamilSmith/melissa-harris-perry-s-email-to-her-nerdland-staff-11292bdc27cb#.6vj2xppzyhttp://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the-myth-of-common-sense-why-the-social-world-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the-myth-of-common-sense-why-the-social-world-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html


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results within two points of the nal outcome. 64 Not only is t here no data offered tosupport the claim that head-to-head polls i n February a re u nreliable, but the a ctualdata that exists d isproves su ch a claim. After falsely trying to dis

offer t wo a rguments i n support of their a ssertion of Secretary Clintons el ectabilityadvantage, both of which are f alse.

First, they seek to make an argument base d on historical comparisons to theelectability of ex tremely liberal candidates in American Presidential elections,generally Walter Mondale and George McGoven. 65 Two comparative data points outof the 116 candidates i n the 58 presidential elections i n our n ations h istory is n otenough data to make any statistically signicant p rediction at al l (ignoring themaxim that condence intervals generally have no operational meaning forprediction, that sample si ze would give you a condence level of less t han 2%). Evenif it were, though, McGovern and Mondale did not lose because they were tooliberal, but above all because t hey faced Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, popularincumbents presiding over economic booms. 66 And neither of these comparativesnds themselves within the current political climate of immense voterdissatisfaction and open revolt. 67 Indeed, the only really comparative election inwhich a Republican goes h ead-to-head in an open general election against a liberalDemocrat in an analogous political climate is the 2008 presidential, in whichnewcomer President Barrack Obama won 53 to 46% over Senator John McCain.History supports the electability of Senator S anders, just as the empirical datadoes.

The second argument that pu ndits make is t hat S enator Sa nders is less electablebecause he has not been properly vetted on a national level, and that t he morepeople get to know him the less t hey will like him. There is a bsolutely no data to

64 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/ 65 At times, Ron Paul, Jesse Jackson, Ross Pe

mentioned, however Ron Paul and Jesse Jackson never made it to the generalelection, and Ross Perot and Ralph Nader w ere t hird-party can didates, neither ofwhich have a ny comparative va lue t o a tw o-party general election candidate.66 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/ 67 http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/01/the_electability_argument_is_bogus_why_bernie_sanders_isnt_the_second_coming_of_george_mcgovern/


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E.There Really Is No Secret Fact that Makes Senator Sanders

Unelectable.

In the face of t he existing data, pundits (and columnists on some of the more

obscure or con spiracy-oriented websites) have also a dvanced issues t hat they claimhave the potential to derail Senator S anders i n a general election. To begin with,this claim is based upon several false p retenses. Senator S anders i s, at t his point,not really an unknown. Across sixteen national surveys since New Years Day[of 2016], an average of 85 percent of Americans knew enough about Sanders toform an opinion of him. 70 This is not the prole of a candidate ying under t heradar (as opposed to, for example, John Kasich, who elicited a response onfavorability from only 53% of respondents in the 11 surveys t hat asked about him). 71

To assume that most people have yet to form an opinion of Senator Sanders isincorrect and, yet, his favorability ratings remain heads and tails above hiscompetitors.

By comparison, Secretary Clinton has a long list of past s candals that h averesulted, over th e course o f this e lection cycle, in a steadily decrea sing favorabilityratings. In an echo of the much repeated (and empirically demonstrated) argumentthat S ecretary Clinton is n ot trusted by the American people, 72 The Atlantic set outa list in January 2 016 of some of Secretary C lintons most prominent and notoriousscandals including Benghazi, the private em ail server, her ass istant Huma Abedins

overlapping job issues an d the multitude of paid speeches (which even the New YorkTimes has called upon her to release). 73 To say nothing of the fact t hat, whileSenator Sanders has declined to address the issue during the primaries, herRepublican opponent would likely make many issues abou t the fact that S ecretaryClinton remains u nder F ederal investigation and possible indictment. 74

70 http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-rating 71 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/ 72

http://freebeacon.com/politics/6-in-10-american-voters- do-not-trust-hillary-clinton/73 http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/ ;http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.html 74 http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/04/what-voters-know-about-hillary-clinton-shes-crook.html
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-ratinghttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/http://freebeacon.com/politics/6-in-10-american-voters-do-not-trust-hillary-clinton/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/04/what-voters-know-about-hillary-clinton-shes-crook.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/04/what-voters-know-about-hillary-clinton-shes-crook.htmlhttp://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/bernie-sanders-favorable-ratinghttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/karp-bernie-sanders-electability-clinton-republicans-trump-election/http://freebeacon.com/politics/6-in-10-american-voters-do-not-trust-hillary-clinton/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/04/what-voters-know-about-hillary-clinton-shes-crook.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/02/04/what-voters-know-about-hillary-clinton-shes-crook.html


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purpose of the intervention was to nancially benet majorcorporations. 78 It s eems highly unlikely that an y candidate wouldtry to use Senator Sanders advance opposition to what waseventually part of the appalling Iran-Contra affair 79 as a negative

personal attack.

Rape Essay First gaining notoriety in a May 2015MotherJones.com article, the 1972 Senator Sanders essay for t he

Vermont Freeman addressed Senator Sanders view that traditionalgender roles helped create troubling dynamics in mens andwomens sex lives. The official Sanders response from Campaignspokesman Michael Briggs was that the essay was a dumb attemptat dark satire i n an alternative p ublication that in no way reectshis views or r ecord on women. 80 In any event, despite reports innational media nearly a year ag o, it gained no traction and had noeffect on Senator Sanders favorability, an d even conservativeNational Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke quickly dismissed theessay as drivel. 81

Redbaiting/Marxist Claims Beginning with George Wills August 7, 2015 Washington Post, claims have been made for over a

year n ow that Senator S anders c reated s ister c ities for B urlington, Vermont in the U.S.S.R., and even honeymooned there. 82 The claimsare, essentially, true. In the 1980s, then Mayor S anders w orked tocreate a sister-city for Burlington with Yaroslavl, in Russia. Theprogram, which is still operating today, and has facilitatedexchanges between the two cities for mayors, business people,reghters, jazz musicians, youth orchestras, mural painters, high

78 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6liJbu9ZCY (video of his spe ech on the i ssue)79

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html 80 http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explained 81 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419002/lets-not-crucify-bernie-sanders-his-sexual-fantasies-essay-charles-c-w-cooke 82 http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/12/george-will/george-will-reminds-readers-about-bernie-sanders-u/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6liJbu9ZCYhttp://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.htmlhttp://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explainedhttp://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explainedhttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419002/lets-not-crucify-bernie-sanders-his-sexual-fantasies-essay-charles-c-w-cookehttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419002/lets-not-crucify-bernie-sanders-his-sexual-fantasies-essay-charles-c-w-cookehttp://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/12/george-will/george-will-reminds-readers-about-bernie-sanders-u/http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/12/george-will/george-will-reminds-readers-about-bernie-sanders-u/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6liJbu9ZCYhttp://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.htmlhttp://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explainedhttp://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explainedhttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419002/lets-not-crucify-bernie-sanders-his-sexual-fantasies-essay-charles-c-w-cookehttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419002/lets-not-crucify-bernie-sanders-his-sexual-fantasies-essay-charles-c-w-cookehttp://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/12/george-will/george-will-reminds-readers-about-bernie-sanders-u/http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/12/george-will/george-will-reminds-readers-about-bernie-sanders-u/


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Unrealistic p olicy goals As discussed above, American votersare d esperate for s omething different. They a re di ssatised with the

status quo , and looking for a new ideology. There i s absolutely nosupport for the argument that American voters do not want

programs t hat w ill help to alleviate t he su ffering they h ave en duredunder four decades of neoliberal economic policies, pa rticularlywhere individuals in most o ther industrialized countries currentlyenjoy those policies. Even the most controversial proposal,Medicare-for-all, has the support of 58% of Americans supportedsingle pa yer s ystem. 88

Sierra Blanco Senator Sanders, as part of a three-statecooperative in response to Federal requirements, supportedlegislation that w ould have permitted the construction of a dumpfor low-level nuclear exposed waste (gloves and such), nea r animpoverished predominantly Latino village in New Mexico. 89

The claim is largely true; the dump was supposed t o be b uilt outsideof a poor t own of approximately 600 people (areas i n that S tate sel lproperty for dumps as a nancial gain), in a State much moresuitable for n uclear waste disposal than the northeast becau se ofground water. The residents objected and the dump was not

completed. Senator Sanders in known for opposing nuclear powerand had been an unwavering champion of rights for the poorthroughout public service; to try a nd argue that t his on e exa mple ofsupporting legislation that w ould have helped his con stituents a nddid not on its face appear to be opposed by impoverishedresidents an assertion that t he media and other candidates havenot tried. Secretary Clinton supporters have been trying to makethis an issue during the primary to appeal to minority andenvironmental voters, however the Republican candidates bot h deny

climate change and support mass deportation, making this a non-issue i n the g eneral election.

88 http://kff.org/health-costs/poll-nding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-december-2015/89 https://www.congress. gov/bill/105th-congress/ house-bill/629/cosponsors
http://kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-december-2015/https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-bill/629/cosponsorshttp://kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-december-2015/https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-bill/629/cosponsors


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Veterans Affairs Issues Senator Sanders was appointed to thechair of the Veterans Affairs Commission in 2013, and when thetreatment scandal came to light in early 2014, he used thatopportunity to pass m ajor bipartisan support. 90 Criticisms of his

service on that c ommittee h ave been rejected as conspiracy theories,and he even earned the praise of Senator John McCain on thematers. 91

Super PAC Support Claims Allegations of hypocrisy claimingthat Senator Sanders actually has a S uper PAC are simply wrong.Senator Sanders has not coordinated with any Super PAC. Anunaffiliated Super PAC, National Nurses United for PatientProtection, affiliated with the nations largest u nion of registerednurses (National Nurses United), have raised about $2.3 million tosupport Senator Sanders independently because they support hispolicies. 92 Secretary Clintons attempts to argue that SenatorSanders has accepted other money from SuperPACs have been atlyrejected by the mainstream media a s false. 93

Claimed Cervical Cancer Was Caused by Lack of Orgasms In a 1969 essay for the Vermont Freeman called Cancer, Disease

and Society, [Senator] Sanders, then 28, contended that conformitycaused cancer by breaking down the human spirit and inictingemotional trauma. He quoted liberally from Reichs 1948 book, TheCancer B iopathy, which, he n oted, was very d enite a bout t he linkbetween emotional an d sexual hea lth, and cancer. 94 Attempts tocharacterize his ci tations of a medical text a s sa lacious a nd anti-

90 http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-bernie-sanders-fought-for-our-veterans-119708 91

http://observer.com/2015/10/john-mccain-bernie-sanders-not-hillary-clinton-has-record-of-advocacy-for-vets/ 92 http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-super-pac-218478#ixzz41QSoaFVn 93 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6_L7kjgsY 94 http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-vermont-freeman-sexual-freedom-uoride
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-bernie-sanders-fought-for-our-veterans-119708http://observer.com/2015/10/john-mccain-bernie-sanders-not-hillary-clinton-has-record-of-advocacy-for-vets/http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-super-pac-218478#ixzz41QSoaFVnhttp://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-super-pac-218478#ixzz41QSoaFVnhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6_L7kjgsYhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-vermont-freeman-sexual-freedom-fluoridehttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-vermont-freeman-sexual-freedom-fluoridehttp://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-bernie-sanders-fought-for-our-veterans-119708http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-bernie-sanders-fought-for-our-veterans-119708http://observer.com/2015/10/john-mccain-bernie-sanders-not-hillary-clinton-has-record-of-advocacy-for-vets/http://observer.com/2015/10/john-mccain-bernie-sanders-not-hillary-clinton-has-record-of-advocacy-for-vets/http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-super-pac-218478#ixzz41QSoaFVnhttp://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-super-pac-218478#ixzz41QSoaFVnhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6_L7kjgsYhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-vermont-freeman-sexual-freedom-fluoridehttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/bernie-sanders-vermont-freeman-sexual-freedom-fluoride


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speech issue would merely echo M itt Romneys ridiculed claim thatcorporations a re pe ople.

Burlington College Arrangements With Son of Family

Friend While Senator Sanders wife was Dean at BurlingtonCollege, the College made approximately $60,000 in payments t o aresort owned by the son of a family friend that hou sed st udents in astudy abroad program. No claims of fraud or impropriety have beenmade, nor has an y involvement in the matter by S enator Sandersbeen shown. Given that the Republican candidates face moreserious allegations with Donald Trump and his Trump Universityfraud and lawsuit, Senator Cruz with his undisclosed loans fromGoldman Sachs (where his wife worked), and Senator Rubio withhis u nauthorized use of a work-related credit card, this u nfoundedpersonal attack seem s u nlikely to be rai sed.

Senator Sanders Wifes Alleged Fraud in Securing Loan for

Burlington College In July of 2015, news reports claimedSenator Sanders wife had committed fraud in securing a loan fromthe Catholic Diocese for Burlington College. The alleged fraudstems from her classication of a promised donation as a pledge,

when it was a ctually a bequest. While the bequest came in, otherpledges d id not, and the College was u nable to rai se enou gh fundsto pay back t he Church in full on the loan (and so the Church wroteit off). 100 The College suffered nancially, though, and SenatorSanders wife resigned. While it is certainly possibly thatRepublican opponents would go after Senator Sanders for theconduct of his wife (as Donald Trump has already done withSecretary C linton, and would likely continue t o do with issues su chas Whitewater. Troopergate, Paula Jones. Monica Lewinsky. Vince

Foster and Juanita Broaddrick.), these accusations have beenaround for nearly a year now and were never pursued (and did notresult in a decrease in favorability) because there is nodemonstrable fraud.

100 http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/jane-says-sanders-secret-weapon-or-a-political-liability/Content?oid=2670992
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/jane-says-sanders-secret-weapon-or-a-political-liability/Content?oid=2670992http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/jane-says-sanders-secret-weapon-or-a-political-liability/Content?oid=2670992http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/jane-says-sanders-secret-weapon-or-a-political-liability/Content?oid=2670992http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/jane-says-sanders-secret-weapon-or-a-political-liability/Content?oid=2670992


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Simply put, there is nothing in Senator Sanders background that i s a smokinggun that would crush his electability. If there was, S ecretary Clinton, theRepublican base or the mainstream media would have already succeeded in

bringing it to national attention by now. But even an already biased media hungryfor scandal and controversy h ave declined to ru n with these i ssues because t heyare simply not substantive. The minor consp iracy theory type assertions againstSenator Sanders spread across the internet have had no effect on his surgingfavorability ratings. To claim that these i ssues w ill somehow resurface a nd result i nSenator Sanders being unelectable if only enough people know about t hem missesthe point that the Republican frontrunner has open ly advocated m urdering innocentpeople. The election is not a bout p ersonal character, it i s about fundamentallychanging the American economy. 101

F.Senator Sanders Comes Across As An Honest, Genuine Candidate

Who Cares About Voters.

At the end of the day, the more scrutiny more he appeals to voters. Even though Senator Sanders lost the Nevada Caucus,exit polls showed that an overwhelming majority of voters 72% to 26% - felt thatSanders c ared about peopl e like them, as opposed to Secretary Clinton. 102 And an

even higher majority 82% to just 14% - viewed Senator Sanders as t he morehonest an d trustworthy candidate. 103 The more people pay attention to SenatorSanders, the m ore favorable h e com es acr oss. A large part of this is Senator Sanders

over the years. Senator Sanders has long supported gay rights 104 and opposedincome inequality, such as b ack in 2010 when he engaged in the rst libuster t heSenate had seen since Al DAmato back in 1992 to object to tax cuts on thewealthy. 105 He also opposed the devastating 1994 crime bill 106 and the unilateral

101http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016

102 http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/primaries/NV 103 Id.104 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCXZ0rRqO60 105 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/10/news/la-pn-sanders-libuster-20101211 106 https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/videos/997815503590701
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/primaries/NVhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCXZ0rRqO60http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/10/news/la-pn-sanders-filibuster-20101211https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/videos/997815503590701http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/feb/16/thomas-piketty-bernie-sanders-us-election-2016http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/primaries/NVhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCXZ0rRqO60http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/10/news/la-pn-sanders-filibuster-20101211https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/videos/997815503590701


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militaristic i ntervention in foreign affairs ( including Desert S torm 107 and the War inIraq). 108 His core ideological positions have been consistent over his term ingovernment, which contributes t o his percept ion as h onest. And his commitment to helping those most in need contribute

as caring about voters. As a Jewish man growing up in 1940s and 50s AmericaSenator Sanders has personally experienced discrimination in a way no othercurrent candidate has, 109 was a rrested while ghting for desegregat ion in Chicagoas a student 110 and has a very long anecdotal history of ghting for minorityrights. 111 Senator Sanders si mply conveys t he a ppearance t o voters t hat h e actuallycares abou t them, as video clips of him rushing to help a man who fainted during aspeech demonstrate (as opp osed t o Donald Trump tossing out objectors). 112 Another part of this is that Senato

more substantially benet aver age voters. A review of the differences in policyproposals between Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton reveal that t hey aregenerally ones of scale when it comes to noneconomic issues Senator Sanderscontinues to propose much more sweeping changes, while Secretary Clintonproposes i ncremental ad vances t o current pol icies. 113 Whether Senator Sanders canactually deliver on his policies is not t he dening issue (though the net p ositiveresults of al l of his p olicies while debated is a very enticing prospect), 114 he is

107 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QetUJHS5rE&list=PLBIGaIyLMWJ690Q2djIGmPc45SredTuPW&index=4 108 https://www.google.com/#q=sanders+opposing+war+in+iraq+youtube 109 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/bernie-sanders-understands-the-horrors-of-racism_b_9311334.html 110 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest -20160219-story.html 111 http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950s 112 http://samuel-warde.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-stops-speech-when-supporter-

needs-medical-aid/ 113 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489185/-The-Denitive-Encyclopedic-Case-For-Why-Hillary-Clinton-is-the-Wrong-Choice ;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable_b_9219882.html 114 http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/index.html?iid=EL ; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QetUJHS5rE&list=PLBIGaIyLMWJ690Q2djIGmPc45SredTuPW&index=4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QetUJHS5rE&list=PLBIGaIyLMWJ690Q2djIGmPc45SredTuPW&index=4https://www.google.com/#q=sanders+opposing+war+in+iraq+youtubehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/bernie-sanders-understands-the-horrors-of-racism_b_9311334.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/bernie-sanders-understands-the-horrors-of-racism_b_9311334.htmlhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest-20160219-story.htmlhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest-20160219-story.htmlhttp://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950shttp://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950shttp://samuel-warde.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-stops-speech-when-supporter-needs-medical-aid/http://samuel-warde.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-stops-speech-when-supporter-needs-medical-aid/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489185/-The-Definitive-Encyclopedic-Case-For-Why-Hillary-Clinton-is-the-Wrong-Choicehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489185/-The-Definitive-Encyclopedic-Case-For-Why-Hillary-Clinton-is-the-Wrong-Choicehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable_b_9219882.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable_b_9219882.htmlhttp://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/index.html?iid=ELhttp://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/index.html?iid=ELhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-bernie-sanders-big-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-clinton/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QetUJHS5rE&list=PLBIGaIyLMWJ690Q2djIGmPc45SredTuPW&index=4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QetUJHS5rE&list=PLBIGaIyLMWJ690Q2djIGmPc45SredTuPW&index=4https://www.google.com/#q=sanders+opposing+war+in+iraq+youtubehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/bernie-sanders-understands-the-horrors-of-racism_b_9311334.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/bernie-sanders-understands-the-horrors-of-racism_b_9311334.htmlhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest-20160219-story.htmlhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest-20160219-story.htmlhttp://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950shttp://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950shttp://samuel-warde.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-stops-speech-when-supporter-needs-medical-aid/http://samuel-warde.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-stops-speech-when-supporter-needs-medical-aid/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489185/-The-Definitive-Encyclopedic-Case-For-Why-Hillary-Clinton-is-the-Wrong-Choicehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/22/1489185/-The-Definitive-Encyclopedic-Case-For-Why-Hillary-Clinton-is-the-Wrong-Choicehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable_b_9219882.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-studebaker/why-bernie-sanders-is-more-electable_b_9219882.htmlhttp://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/index.html?iid=ELhttp://money.cnn.com/2016/02/08/news/economy/sanders-income-jobs/index.html?iid=ELhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-bernie-sanders-big-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-clinton/


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offering to help voters out more. This is the same thing that Donald Trump isproposing policies t hat, regardless of how outlandish they seem would help theaverage vot er ( at least, according to D onald Trump). Secretary C linton, by contrast,is merely offering to m aintain the status quo . In a political climate where rebellion

against the status quo is the primary driving issue, Secretary Clintons policyproposals, even if they a re m ore real istic, are dri ving away too m any voters. 115

Finally, the average American voter ha s grown weary of the endless wars wehave been engaged in. Since September 11, 2001, direct m ilitary spending by theUnited States on a variety of conicts a nd wars h ave exceed $1.6 trillion dollars, 116

and we are n o safer for it. 117 There is no question that S ecretary Clinton whosetenure as secretary of State included the destabilization of Libya and Syria presents the hawkish neoconservative military ideology of regime change. 118 Thatideology has proven disastrous (aside from increasing arms-sales from which themilitary-industrial complex quite lucratively benets). 119 Both Donald Trump andSenator Sanders are proposing changes in the regime-change neoconservativemilitary strategy, while Secretary Clinton continues t o advocate maintaining the

status quo . Secretary Clinton offers n o promise of change to the American voters onforeign military policy; and in a general el ection Senator Sanders would offer a nalternative to both his hawkish predecessors and the raze-the-earth nationalismand abandonment proposed by R epublicans.

G.Time is Running out to Save a Democratic Presidency.

bernie-san ders-bi g-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-cl inton/ ; http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterline (itshould be noted that t he n eoliberal economist objections t o F riedmans an alysis real ly only d isagreewith how large t he p ositive eff ects of all of Senator san ders policies w ould be).

115 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/16/1443844/-Hillary-A-Status-Quo-

Candidate-in-a-Change-Election-Cycle 116 https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/war/ 117 http://thehill.com/blogs/congress- blog/foreign-policy/237650-endless-failures-of-an-endless-war 118 http://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/ 119 Id.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-bernie-sanders-big-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-clinton/http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterlinehttp://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterlinehttp://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterlinehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/16/1443844/-Hillary-A-Status-Quo-Candidate-in-a-Change-Election-Cyclehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/16/1443844/-Hillary-A-Status-Quo-Candidate-in-a-Change-Election-Cyclehttps://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/war/http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/237650-endless-failures-of-an-endless-warhttp://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/237650-endless-failures-of-an-endless-warhttp://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-bernie-sanders-big-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-clinton/http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterlinehttp://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/gerald-friedmans-analysis-sanders-spending-plan-just-took-hit-below-waterlinehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/16/1443844/-Hillary-A-Status-Quo-Candidate-in-a-Change-Election-Cyclehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/16/1443844/-Hillary-A-Status-Quo-Candidate-in-a-Change-Election-Cyclehttps://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/war/http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/237650-endless-failures-of-an-endless-warhttp://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/237650-endless-failures-of-an-endless-warhttp://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/http://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/the_case_against_hillary_clinton_this_is_the_disaster_democrats_must_avoid/


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If electab ility is, in all honesty, the primary concern for voters in this e lectioncycle, then that issue m ust be l ooked at f airly and objectively. Because cl aiming thatSecretary C linton is t he m ore el ectable can didate w ithout an y actual proof is verydangerous and, according to all avai lable evidence at this time, will lead to a

nationalist candidate t aking over t he White House i n January of 2017. It is n ot justthe Supreme Court at i ssue; this is a very similar political l andscape as to thatwhich occurred in Europe prior to the outbreak of World War I I. 120 Scanning throughsecondary media sou rces on line to cherry-pick stories t hat conrm a pre-existingbelief that Senator Sanders is not electable does not constitute evidence.

All candidates have issues voters. But the si mple fact is t hat evi dence r esoundingly demonstrates t hat S enatorSanders i s t he more electable candidate. If Secretary Clinton runs in the generalelection, the most likely outcome is P resident Donald Trump. At this point, it is rap

this. Currently Secretary Clinton has 5 2 assigned delegates t o Senator S anders 51.Super D elegates can change their m ind, and given that t here a re 469 congressionalseats ru nning this fall (34 Senate a nd all 435 House of Representatives), the ideathat S uper Delegates would be used to overturn a clear m ajority winner in theprimaries i s u nlikely. Senator S anders s till has a path to victory, but his w indow inwhich to do so is narrowing. 121 At the same time, the Democratic Party to startheavily focusing on voter reg istration and get-out-the-vote campaigns, or ri sk theloss of millions of voters that m ight m ake any candidate this fall a precariousnotion.

120 http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jun/02/economic-insecurity-nationalism-on-the-rise-globalisation-nouriel-roubini 121 http://intheseti mes.com/article/18913/bernie-sanders-delegate-path-to-victory-super-tuesday ; http://vethirtyeight.com/features/bernie-sanders-doesnt-need-momentum-he-needs-to-win-these-states/
http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jun/02/economic-insecurity-nationalism-on-the-rise-globalisation-nouriel-roubinihttp://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jun/02/economic-insecurity-nationalism-on-the-rise-globalisation-nouriel-roubinihttp://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jun/02/economic-insecurity-nationalism-on-the-rise-globalisation-nouriel-roubinihttp://inthesetimes.com/article/18913/bernie-sanders-delegate-path-to-victory-super-tuesdayhttp://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bernie-sanders-doesnt-need-momentum-he-needs-to-win-these-states/http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bernie-sanders-doesnt-need-momentum-he-needs-to-win-these-states/http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/

detailed analysis of electability in democratic primary ahead of super tuesday - discounting the...

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