Many people I know think something like the following:
"I really like Bernie Sanders, but he has no chance in the general election. If I want a Democratic President, I have to vote for Hillary."
Personally I completely disagree, and for several good theoretic arguments in favor of his chances, check out the Huffington Post article from my previous post.
But not only is the above position self-defeating, it is provably false. The most recent Qunnipiac poll shows Sanders winning against every Republican candidate in one on one face offs. Here are his matchups with the top Republican candidates (in order of Republican Primary polling):
- Donald Trump: 49% – 41% = +8%
- Ben Carson: 47% – 41% = +6%
- Ted Cruz: 49% – 39% = +10%
- Marco Rubio: 44% – 43% = +1%
Note that the above poll reports an error margin of 2.6% from 672 Republicans and 573 Democrats. Further, RealClear Politics has an aggregate poll, but I chose the Quinnipiac because it's the most recent. Even in the aggregate (which I would like to note includes polls from organizations such as Fox News), Sanders ties Trump, barely loses to Carson (-1%) and Rubio (-1%), and soundly beats Cruz (+6%).
In addition, Sanders can certainly still win the primary. He is doing better in the Democractic Primary polls than Obama was at the same time in 2008.
Although I will note Clinton is also doing better in the current primary polls (58%) than from 2008 (42%). But Obama ended up jumping to 53%, an increase of +30%. If many Clinton supporters read this blog post and start Feeling The Bern™, he would only need to convert 13% to beat her.
If you would prefer a video, my main news channel, SecularTalk, recently covered this (note: contains some vulgarities as well as reasoned argument).
This election is not a choice between Clinton and a Republican President.
Given that Bernie can beat the Republicans, I don't know why anyone would vote for Hillary.