Hillary Clinton
Related: About this forumDespite Polls, Republicans See Sanders as an Easier Opponent ~ Bloomberg (HRC GP)
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-04-18/despite-polls-republicans-see-sanders-as-an-easier-opponentDespite Polls, Republicans See Sanders as an Easier Opponent
Hillary Clinton would be a more difficult opponent in the general election, some in the GOP believe.
"You know, in virtually all of the general election match-up polls between Trump and Secretary Clinton and Trump and Bernie Sanders, in almost all of those polls, I do better than Secretary Clinton," Sanders said Thursday night during the Brooklyn Democratic debate, attributing his strength to independents. "We are not going to win the White House based on just long-term Democratic votes. We have got to reach out to independents and I think I am well qualified to do that."
"Republicans are being nice to Bernie Sanders because we like the thought of running against a socialist. But if he were to win the nomination the knives would come out for Bernie pretty quick," said Ryan Williams, a former spokesman for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign. "There's no mystery what the attack on him would be. Bernie Sanders is literally a card carrying socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Union. There'd be hundreds of millions of dollars in Republican ads showing hammers and sickles and Soviet Union flags in front of Bernie Sanders."
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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,192 posts)He has bi-partisan appeal she said.
sarae
(3,284 posts)sure, sure he does...until the Republican ads start coming out against instead of for him.
DesertFlower
(11,649 posts)just like he hasn't thought about how no one in congress will work with him if he's prez.
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)Dana Milbank has some good comments on general election match up polls https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-would-be-insane-to-nominate-bernie-sanders/2016/01/26/0590e624-c472-11e5-a4aa-f25866ba0dc6_story.html?hpid=hp_opinions-for-wide-side_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Watching Sanders at Monday nights Democratic presidential forum in Des Moines, I imagined how Trump or another Republican nominee would disembowel the relatively unknown Vermonter.
The first questioner from the audience asked Sanders to explain why he embraces the socialist label and requested that Sanders define it so that it doesnt concern the rest of us citizens.
Sanders, explaining that much of what he proposes is happening in Scandinavia and Germany (a concept that itself alarms Americans who dont want to be like socialized Europe), answered vaguely: Creating a government that works for all of us, not just a handful of people on the top thats my definition of democratic socialism.
But thats not how Republicans will define socialism and theyll have the dictionary on their side. Theyll portray Sanders as one who wants the government to own and control major industries and the means of production and distribution of goods. Theyll say he wants to take away private property. That wouldnt be fair, but it would be easy. Socialists dont win national elections in the United States .
Sanders on Monday night also admitted he would seek massive tax increases one of the biggest tax hikes in history, as moderator Chris Cuomo put it to expand Medicare to all. Sanders, this time making a comparison with Britain and France, allowed that hypothetically, youre going to pay $5,000 more in taxes, and declared, W e will raise taxes, yes we will. He said this would be offset by lower health-insurance premiums and protested that its demagogic to say, oh, youre paying more in taxes.
Well, yes and Trump is a demagogue.
Sanders also made clear he would be happy to identify Democrats as the party of big government and of wealth redistribution. When Cuomo said Sanders seemed to be saying he would grow government bigger than ever, Sanders didnt quarrel, saying, P eople want to criticize me, okay, and F ine, if thats the criticism, I accept it.
Sanders accepts it, but are Democrats ready to accept ownership of socialism, massive tax increases and a dramatic expansion of government? If so, they will lose.
Match up polls are worthless because these polls do not measure what would happen to Sanders in a general election where Sanders is very vulnerable to negative ads.
ladym55
(2,577 posts)He can't handle the softballs he's getting now. He has no CLUE what it will be like once the Rethugs unleash their rabid dogs. Swiftboat, anyone?
DemonGoddess
(4,640 posts)BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)shadowandblossom
(718 posts)There's an article discussing it with political scientist in Vox.
It would be funny though... If any of those are online polls, then they would mean even less than absolutely nothing, because Sanders fans coordinate and tactically vote in those skewing the results against, well, reality.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)want to run against Hillary, they know they can crush Sanders.
Cha
(297,655 posts)thank you, HS!
Pika78
(55 posts)Can go to hell.
"I think anybody who's analyzed this knows that Hillary Clinton is in the ditch. We don't know how far into the ditch she is going to go, but she's not doing well."
IN THE DITCH? We'll see just how in the ditch she is when she wins this nomination and then goes on to win the general election. Night night, Reince.
Her Sister
(6,444 posts)BS newbies got the BS GROUP!!
Pika78
(55 posts)I was defending Hillary... The RNC Chairman has no business saying that she's not doing well.
Her Sister
(6,444 posts)Was before I went to vote which I just did!!
It's supposed to be a great day for us!!
edit: WELCOME TO HRC GROUP!!!
Pika78
(55 posts)BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)BS would beome chopped liver in the GE.
BlueCaliDem
(15,438 posts)HillareeeHillaraah
(685 posts)How's he gonna get most Americans to vote for him?
Doesn't connect the dots. Doesn't dig into the meaning of the data. Surface Sanders.
On sooo many issues but this one in particular.