2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Just for the sake of discussion what if Bernie was nominated? [View all]HassleCat
(6,409 posts)No way Bernie would do as well with minorities in the big cities, but he might offset that deficit in small towns and rust belt states. He did quite well in the rust belt in the primaries. Clinton kicked his ads in the primaries, but much of her success was due to huge black voter support in states that she couldn't possibly win in the general.
Because we have the electoral college, I think Bernie would win the presidency. Remember, polls showed him beating Trump in swing states. Hillary was predicted to lose, or win by a narrower margin, in those states. And those early predictions turned out to be accurate. Would their predictions about Bernie be true, as well? I would like to think so because I like Bernie.
What about the socialist thing? That would not hurt him very much with independents and swing voters. Bernie was widely perceived as honest, and the honesty issue was a big deal in this election.
Nobody really knows, of course, but it seems to me we have to work up a little courage to do something like run a socialist progressive for president.