I’m for everything Bernie Sanders is for, but I’m scared to death he’ll get the Democratic nomination for president.
Though he currently tops Donald Trump in national polling, he loses in several all-important swing states. His claims of a progressive wave that will sweep the country is belied by the numbers in the primary season so far.
And his signature issue is a loser, not a winner. Voters like Medicare for All until his version is defined — a government-only plan that ends private insurance. Then support plummets. Bernie didn’t increase voter turnout in any of the first primary/caucus states, and didn’t draw in significant numbers of new voters, especially among the white middle-class majority.
And these voters are Democrats. That’s not a good sign for the general election. The lesson of the 2018 midterms is particularly worrying. When Democrats took back the House, every one of the seats that flipped from red to blue were won by “moderates” who supported, for instance, an expanded public option instead of Medicare-only for all.
In red districts, every progressive candidate who championed Sanders’ policies lost.
Another big worry for November is that Bernie would be a drag on down-ballot races. His base is solid and passionate, and I admire his principled advocacy of game-changing policies. But given these warning signs — no surge in voter turnout, no enthusiasm for single-payer now, no evidence of progressive strength in red states — I fear for Bernie’s chances in a national election where, in addition to these problems, the label “socialist” and the slogan, “He’ll take away your health care,” will have no effective response beyond the “Yes, but …” he’s using now.
Chris Rohmann
Florence