Bernie Sanders stands as the lone “democratic socialist” in a soon-to-be-contentious presidential campaign.
Sanders, the longest-serving independent senator from Vermont, has become better known since he announced his run for the Democratic nomination for president. He already has a strong liberal support base, and now his campaign has seen burgeoning support from young generations.
The 73-year-old fireball is an odd pick in today’s political climate in America. He’s savvy and has picked up the right progressive stance on hot-button issues such as race and healthcare. But his traditional views on progressivism may be his biggest weakness.
His chances of winning the Democratic primary depend on whether he sticks to his guns or if he can tailor his message to key audiences in the 2016 election.
Why is Sanders so popular, particularly with young people?
Since its launch in May, the Sanders campaign successfully grabbed the attention of millennial voters, many of whom identify as Democrats. These young adults are skeptical of the traditional political class in Washington after the Great Recession and a decade of international conflict. While they’re generally optimistic in their crusade for equality, millennials are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the two-party system.
That’s where Sanders comes in. A senator with a healthy disregard for rules, Sanders has stood by his far-left ideals, which often isolate him even from his liberal colleagues. He’s stuck to his guns for years and has a tendency to not be politically correct. He’s decried institutional racism in the U.S. He calls for higher wages and condemns corporations’ greed. Put most of his ideas into a box, and you’ve got a good idea of what young people want politically.
But he’s pegged as an underdog. Why?
Politically, Sanders is the wild card in the race to the Oval Office. You could say his Republican counterpart is Donald Trump, mainly because of their brute, if opposite, honesty.
Despite its recent gains during the midterm elections, the Republican party has suffered infighting for years. And beyond Hillary Clinton’s wavering support, Democrats can’t seem to come up with a common identity for voters to rally behind. The other Democratic challengers — Jim Webb, Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee — have hardly made a dent in the polls.
Sanders stands out saying he’s disconnected from Washington politics and persuasions. He’s embraced this image of the caped crusader for justice — as he has for a long time — and supporters are into it.
So why would Sanders, who serves as an independent in the Senate, run as a Democrat? In the U.S., it’s incredibly hard for little-known, independent candidates to go up against the two major league players. Sanders caucuses with Senate Democrats and has a similar enough platform to identify as one of them; this affiliation will help bolster his campaign if it gains traction.
What are his biggest talking points?
As a “democratic socialist,” Sanders’ agenda is a vast departure from that of the other presidential candidates. His main policy points, which naturally reflect his socialist nature, include universal health care and education, income equality, expanding social security and the general dismantling of the corporate structure.
Sanders points to countries like Norway and asserts the necessity for universal health care. He says corporations are much more focused on turning profit than providing care, and uses the same logic when calling for universal public education.
In a similar strain, he says unions are the future of balancing wages in the country. This again connects to Sanders’ disdain toward corporations — he said a union is the only way to fight a corporation’s lack of respect for its workers. Bear in mind, many of his contributors are unions. Recently, he even snagged the endorsement of a 185,000-member union of nurses.
He’s been talking a lot about economics. What about his views on race? Foreign policy?
Sanders has been open about his mission to end structural racism in the country, but to many social justice activists, Sanders’ focus on economics was seen as reluctance to speak on the subject of race. That frustration even provoked Black Lives Matter activists to disrupt Sanders’ Aug. 8 rally in Seattle to instead talk about racial inequality.
Instead of putting up walls, Sanders appears to be embracing the criticism, saying, “I want some help on this.” He took questions about institutional racism and mass incarceration, and asked for ideas from a small group of activists at a private fundraiser later that night. Such a response may be a good first step in trying to attract minority voters, but it’ll take more than a couple of speeches to convince voters he is the best champion for social change.
When it comes to U.S. foreign relations, Sanders is staunchly against sending combat troops abroad. Using ISIS as a specific example, Sanders says only the foreign countries themselves can solve the conflicts in the region — not the U.S. As a steady opponent against the Iraq War, Sanders called many Republicans’ hawkish attitude “horrific.”
This lines up Sanders with the other liberal candidates. Being on the far left, Sanders shares many of the same ideals as the other Democrats — supporting gay rights, abortion and more.
So, it looks like Sanders has some conflicting political views. What’s the deal?
When certain political views edge on the extreme, the “left” and the “right” can often get blurry. Here’s an example: in a recent interview with Vox’s Ezra Klein, Sanders implied he was against opening the borders. Democrats responded, “Huh?”
Sanders argues that opening immigration law would break down America and allow corporations to exploit foreign workers to benefit the corporations. He said young, low-income Americans need the jobs more.
Fairly traditional as a socialist, Sanders wants the U.S. to be a self-sustaining, self-regulating nation-state. That’s why he supports strong policies such as social security and universal health care. But progressivism has changed since Sanders first held public office in the ‘80s — supporters now want the world to reap the benefits of progressivism. Though foreign policy and global affairs have become ever crucial to a candidate’s success, Sanders is still focused on benefits for America alone.
Why should I care? Does Sanders even have a chance against Clinton or the 17-candidate GOP field?
Sanders was initially dismissed by pundits as a little-known old-school socialist, but his popularity is surging while Clinton’s wavers. A New Hampshire poll released Aug. 11 shows that Sanders is actually leading Clinton in the state by 7 percent. Right now, this underdog is the closest — and growing — challenge to Clinton, who many commentators predict will sweep the nomination.
Sanders’ ideas run in line with what many young people think, but his outdated views on issues like immigration could work against him if he doesn’t tailor it to the important voters next year: minorities and young adults. His success hinges on how strongly he’s committed to his traditional socialist values and whether or not America wants to break out of the two-party political mold as much as young people seem to want.
Many pundits still say a Sanders ticket for the White House is a long shot, but his challenge to Clinton will at least allow his ideas to take the spotlight in the national conversation.
Contributed by Abigail Geiger
More info:
Pew: A Deep Dive Into Party Affiliation
New Yorker: Bernie Sanders: A Man With a Cause
Vox: Bernie Sanders: The Vox interview
The Atlantic: Bernie Sanders Launches His Vermonster Campaign
New York Times: The Socialist Senator
The Week Magazine: Is Bernie Sanders actually too conservative for the Democratic Party?
Washington Post: Bernie Sanders is in with the enemy, some old allies say
