Yitzchok Kahan3 days ago2 min read
To Hillary Clinton supporters: The facts on where the race stands
Robby Mook
24867
Yes, Hillary Clinton has more votes and delegates on her side than Bernie Sanders has. She will almost certainly become the nominee. However, you are woefully wrong about their general election chances.
- Attacks on Clinton have caused her unfavorable ratings to skyrocket, from less than 35% in 2013 to 55% today. In many polls, she loses to Republicans; she even loses to the most unlikable man in politics, Ted Cruz. The only reason she maintains her lead on Trump is because of the unique nature of Trump.
- While Gallup’s poll says Clinton’s supporters are more enthusiastic in the primaries, that won’t hold up in the general election. A CBS/NYT poll shows that 56% of Sanders supporters will enthusiastically support him in the general, compared to 40% for Clinton.
- Their vote totals reflect the current standing in the primary campaign, not the general election. As Sanders points out, he performs far better with independents than Clinton.
- Of course people think Clinton is the better nominee. That’s all that the media says, despite all the evidence to the contrary. People also thought that Sanders wouldn’t win a single state. Look at how that turned out.
- The truth is that Sanders’ massive advantage over Clinton in the general won’t suddenly disappear if he becomes the nominee. The Republicans have already attacked Sanders as a radical socialist, and there’s not much else to attack him on. Sanders is clearly an honest, straightforward man, and very few people would believe conspiracy theories that Republicans spread. Clinton, on the other hand, has the polished but uncharismatic visage that makes her perfectly vulnerable to such attacks.
The bottom line: there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Sanders is the better general election candidate. There is no such evidence for Clinton.