How 'Never Bernie' Voters Threw In With Biden and Changed the Primary

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Jane King, a financial investor from Boston who describes herself as progressive, began the presidential primary as an avowed supporter of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. But as Ms. Warren’s candidacy seemed to fade early this year, Ms. King looked elsewhere.

She considered Michael R. Bloomberg, Ms. Warren’s electoral nemesis. She thought about Pete Buttigieg, another moderate. Ultimately, in the Massachusetts primary that was a must-win for Ms. Warren, Ms. King voted for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Rarely has political momentum flipped as quickly as it did in the first half of March, as Mr. Sanders lost serious ground to Mr. Biden before the coronavirus slowed their race. There are well-known reasons for the shift: Moderate candidates like Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota rallied around Mr. Biden. He enjoyed demographic advantages, particularly with black voters. And turnout among young voters and liberal nonvoters did not surge, failing to reshape the electorate as Mr. Sanders had hoped.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/how-never-bernie-voters-threw-in-with-biden-and-changed-the-primary/ar-BB120pS7?ocid=spartanntp

[RhodeIslandOne]

1. When this crisis is all said and done....

....America WILL demand Medicare for All. I hope all these "anti-socialists" like Big Bucks Bloomberg realize that America as we know it is dead now. Too bad many will die while learning they don't REALLY love their health insurance, if they still have it.

[ehrnst]

3. There are alternatives to Single Payer, as the vast majority of countries with UHC have shown.

And polling shows that even many of those who are in favor of M4A aren't really clear on what it entails.



The big picture: That doesn’t necessarily mean more information will turn supporters into opponents, but it shows that we’re still at an early stage in this debate, in which opinions about Medicare for All are often reflections of broader political alliances, not the details of a plan.

By the numbers: In our January tracking poll, more than half (59%) of Medicare for All supporters didn’t think Medicare for All would require people to give up their employer-based insurance; 34% knew it would.

Democrats have learned more about the plan over the course of the party’s primary — 41% now know that people with employer coverage couldn’t keep it, up from 25% in June.

The big picture: People's opinions are still malleable.

Majority support for Medicare for All flips to majority opposition — 58% — if people think it would eliminate private coverage. And opposition rises to 70% if people think Medicare for All would lead to delays in care.

But support rises to 67% if people hear that Medicare for All would eliminate premiums and deductibles, and to 71% if they hear it would "make health care a right."

https://www.axios.com/bernie-sanders-supporters-medicare-for-all-44b8e5bd-45b6-4a91-bcb9-856265b48706.html

[RhodeIslandOne]

4. Let's take polls 12 months from now about what America wants n/m

[ehrnst]

6. I keep hearing that Americans "will demand M4A"

but only from Sanders and Sanders supporters.

The 2018 Blue Wave was won on a promise to repair and expand the ACA. What evidence do you have that supports your claim that they will suddenly change 12 months from now?

Why haven't they "demanded" it prior to this - and in time for the 2020 elections?

[RhodeIslandOne]

7. I'm not a Sanders supporter and never was

So I guess you can end that narrative.

When this is all said and done, and people are jobless, bankrupt due to multiple family members dead and their "great insurance" paying only some of the bills, we'll see.

[ehrnst]

8. You didn't answer my question...

Why haven't they "demanded" it prior to this - and in time for the 2020 elections?

[RhodeIslandOne]

9. You're aware of what's going on out in world, right?

I have to ask, because I hear this forum is now just one big rave party where nothing else matters but one issue.

[ehrnst]

17. So you don't have an answer to my question.

Got it.

[Indykatie]

11. People Will Demanded Expanded Access or Universal Access - That Doesn't Have to Be Medicare 4 All

Most Unions and many other Dems do not support elimination of the private/Employer based insurance system which is why they don't support M4All. Bernie and some M4All advocate refuse to accept that. Bernie is so wedded to his branded solution that he can't see that there are other ways to achieve the same goal. When you're pushing something that Pelosi has deemed DOA it's not happening. That may not be fair but it's true.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. Universal access is fine

but it must also be affordable for everyone. I’m not saying M4A is the way to accomplish this. We should look to France and Germany who have mixed systems that are very affordable.

[radical noodle]

2. Pete was my first choice

I did the same thing. We had to come together on someone and it wasn't Bernie for me.

[Cha]

5. Yay for the "Democratic Establishment".. they Get the Blame! YAY!

Mr. Sanders, for his part, has explained his slide by blaming the Democratic establishment, the collection of party leaders leery of grass-roots candidates promising structural change. Allies have zeroed in on the endorsements of Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar, whose consolidation behind Mr. Biden after the South Carolina primary left the Sanders campaign flat-footed.

[The Magistrate]

10. The Sole Obstacle To Progressive Policies, Ma'am, That's What It Is!!!

The source of all evil and wrong in our country!

They rigged it all against 'Bernie'!

If it was an honest election 'Bernie' would be President now!

By acclaim!

The people want 'Bernie'. and everybody knows it!

Except that vicious sneaking 'Democratic Establishment'!!

They're unfair to 'Bernie'!!!




"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[Cha]

14. Yeah, Darn those Dem Establishment Voters! They went Out

in Droves to Vote for Democracy!!

[The Magistrate]

16. All Those 'Votes', Ma'am

They just keep 'Bernie' from leading the race for President!

The people want 'Bernie'!

'Bernie' can't be stopped by rigged elections and the corporate media reporting people vote against 'Bernie'!!!






"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[Gothmog]

12. The vast bulk of the party have rejected sanders

sanders was appealing only to 30% of the party and after South Carolina the rest of the party moved to Joe Biden to stop sanders.

Link to tweet

Rarely has political momentum flipped as quickly as it did in the first half of March, as Mr. Sanders lost serious ground to Mr. Biden before the coronavirus slowed their race. There are well-known reasons for the shift: Moderate candidates like Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota rallied around Mr. Biden. He enjoyed demographic advantages, particularly with black voters. And turnout among young voters and liberal nonvoters did not surge, failing to reshape the electorate as Mr. Sanders had hoped.

But beyond ideology, race and turnout, a chief reason for Mr. Biden’s success has little to do with his candidacy. He became a vehicle for Democrats like Ms. King who were supporting other candidates but found the prospect of Mr. Sanders and his calls for political revolution so distasteful that they put aside misgivings about Mr. Biden and backed him instead.

In phone interviews, dozens of Democrats, mostly aged 50 and over, who live in key March primary states like Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan and Florida, said that Mr. Biden’s appeal went beyond his case for beating President Trump. It was his chances of overtaking Mr. Sanders, the only candidate in the vast Democratic field they found objectionable for reasons personal and political.....

These voters’ willingness to unite against Mr. Sanders helped Democratic Party leaders stave off his insurgent campaign and has made Mr. Biden the all-but-certain Democratic nominee. The convergence behind Mr. Biden also highlights a critical difference between this year’s primary and what happened to the Republican Party in 2016. Four years ago, establishment Republicans were openly skeptical of Mr. Trump after his victories in early primary states, but a fractured field and split primary vote allowed him to amass an insurmountable delegate lead, reshaping the party in the process.....

Ahead of Mr. Sanders’s presidential run in 2020, his campaign did not concern itself with smoothing tensions among voters who supported Mrs. Clinton in 2016. He did not seek the endorsements of many party leaders, who were always unlikely to back him, but could have been swayed from being openly antagonistic to ambivalent.

As a result, after a strong finish in Iowa and wins in New Hampshire and Nevada, Mr. Sanders did not benefit from an assumed truth of presidential campaigns: that early-state victories help bring in voters from other factions. Instead, people like Lori Boerner of McLean, Va., said Mr. Sanders’s performance sent them searching for a candidate who could stop his rise, and after the South Carolina primary, they landed on Mr. Biden.

The vast bulk of the party does not like sanders which is why Joe Biden is going to the nominee

[Cha]

15. lol.. can't understand WHY! Thank you for this, Goth..

[Gothmog]

18. There are a large number of real Democrats who have very good memories

These real Democrats do not forgive or forget

Link to tweet

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. K&R

[Gothmog]

20. Sanders is under 30% in this polling

Link to tweet

[la-trucker]

21. Democrats and especially Hillary supporters

have long memories.

[Gothmog]

22. One month ago tonight - but it feels like a million years ago

Link to tweet