2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will not drop out of the race despite the massive lead former Vice President Joe Biden has over him.
The Democrats fear they will relive 2016 if Sanders stays in the presidential race.
Sanders told his supporters and delegates to support failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but they booed him. The nation saw his supporters cause ruckus after ruckus during the Democratic convention:
To some Democrats in that campaign, it was a lesson learned the hard way about the limitations of Sanders’s promises of support and the ferocity of his unbridled backers. Four years later, with the senator from Vermont still running against former vice president Joe Biden despite almost impossible odds of victory, some party leaders are increasingly worried about a reprise of the bitter divisions that many Democrats blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss.“It’s the equivalent of a World War II kamikaze pilot,” said Philippe Reines, a longtime adviser to Clinton. “They have no better option than to plow into USS Biden.”
Sanders wants to debate Biden in April. Due to the coronavirus, his campaign has done everything they can to expand his online presence. He has also used the pandemic to push his Medicare for All plan.
A source told The Washington Post that if Biden made “significant policy and personal overtures to” him then Sanders might leave the race.
Sanders promised to fight for the Democratic nominee over President Donald Trump.
But does his support mean anything if his supporters defect?
Former California Senator Barbara Boxer said that Sanders “looks very selfish” for staying in the race. If he truly means that he will help the Democrats beat Trump “then get out.”
The Democratic Party believes the longer Sanders stays in the race the harder it will be for them to convince his supporters to support Biden.
However, some 2016 veterans believe that the Democrats will not see a repeat due to the relationship between Sanders and Biden. It is no secret the hatred between Hillary and Sanders. Hillary still complains and attacks Sanders:
Biden, for his part, has sought to strike a welcoming posture toward his former Senate colleague. Both teams remain in touch on the coronavirus crisis and its effect on the economy, according to one Biden adviser.It is their personal dynamic — they are two men of similar ages who both served in Congress and who associates said genuinely hold each other in high regard — that gives some Democrats hope for averting the ugliness of 2016.“I sense that there is a personal respect that he has for Joe Biden that he did not extend to Hillary in 2016, so I assume that that will extend some guard rails,” said Brian Fallon, who worked as press secretary for Clinton’s campaign. The bigger challenge, Fallon said, will be reining in Sanders supporters while their candidate extends his presence in the race.
Polls have shown that Sanders’s supporters do not have enthusiasm for Biden. A brand new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 15% of Sanders’s supporters would vote for Trump over Biden.
If Biden continues to make concessions to the far-left he might lose the support of the moderates. As the Democrats give in to demands by Sanders’s supporters the moderates might eventually break away.
We might see a bloodier Democratic convention in July.
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