From the Oklahoman:
For months, political prognosticators have warned that Republican voters who support Donald Trump may sit out the general election if he isn't the GOP nominee because they view the other
candidates as sell-outs.
Now it seems Democrats could face the same problem. This became apparent during the Iowa caucuses, which Hillary Clinton won by the narrowest of margins. When her victory speech was played on live TV at the watch party of her opponent, avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, his supporters' disdain was undeniable.
As Clinton declared, "I am a progressive," the Sanders crowd erupted in booing and began to chant, “She's a liar.”
The problem for Democrats is that many members of the party's activist base now view anyone who isn't a socialist as a corporate sell-out.
Democratic voters are not like the Republican base. They will fight hard for their favorite candidate but in the end they will still vote for their party's nominee knowing that they will at least get some of what they value the most. These voters help their party's down ticket candidates.
ReplyDeleteMany in the Republican base are single issue Conservatives who will never vote for anyone other than their chosen candidate. They stay home on election day which hurts the party's down ticket candidates. Then these same stay-at-homes spend the next 2 or 4 years whining about how bad things are.
As Pogo famously said: "We have met the enemy and he is us."