Boston Herald: "Why big crowds don’t equal big votes for Bernie Sanders"

[DCBob]

Earlier this month, 15,000 people packed into New York’s Washington Square Park to hear US Senator Bernie Sanders. It was the largest rally for any candidate in the New York presidential primary — until 28,000 people came to hear Sanders in Prospect Park in Brooklyn a few days later. That was the biggest rally of Sanders presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, Sanders lost the New York primary to Hillary Clinton by 16 percentage points. Sanders not only lost Brooklyn, but he also lost the neighborhood where he grew up.

The Sanders campaign has frequently pointed to his massive crowds as a sign the campaign still has momentum, even as public polls and delegate counts show it’s very unlikely — some say impossible — for him to win the nomination. Especially after New York, it’s clear his big crowds have not led to electoral success, and experts point to a few dynamics that explain why.

“Were the rallies smoke and mirrors? No. They were real rallies, with real people, and real enthusiasm,” said Syracuse University political science professor Grant Reeher. “But voter turnout, especially in New York State, draws on a different set of organizational strengths which a movement candidate is going to have trouble tapping into in the months before an election.”

more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/04/21/why-big-crowds-don-equal-big-votes-for-bernie-sanders/uuKcKaVV10wJV5m88iiiDP/story.html

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There has been little to no correlation between rally size and voter turnout.

Hillary folks don't typically go to rallies and click buttons on website polls but they do show up at the election booth.. where it matters.

[GoneFishin]

1. Yeah. Yeah. That's the ticket. It doesn't have anything to do with the voter registration list being

tampered with and 125,000 voters from Bernie's home turf being blocked from voting.

What a bunch of baloney. It's absurd.

[DCBob]

2. That's a "bunch of baloney"

Hillary won.

[hack89]

3. Hillary won Bernie's home turf

many of those 125,000 voters would have been Hillary votes.

[GoneFishin]

5. Sure they would have.

[hack89]

8. So they could surgically identity only Bernie supporters

and purge only them? Care to explain how that was even possible?

[Godhumor]

4. The missing voters are from predominately black neighborhoods

The purge did hurt a candidate, but it is not the one you think it is.

[GoneFishin]

6. Then we all agree that those votes should somehow be accomodated.

[Godhumor]

7. We all agree that a massive investigation needs to happen and someone should be going to jail

But, if they didn't fill out an affidavit ballot, there is no way to count them for the primary.

[Trust Buster]

9. He holds his rallies in and around college campuses. Must I say more ?

[Kittycat]

11. Because they accommodate crowd size. It's called stadiums.

I know many people my age, that would be people in their 40's or later that went. Posting pictures with van loads of other adults and their teens.

[Trust Buster]

12. Others would call it shameless pandering.

[DCBob]

14. Good point.

The locations are certainly strategic to bring in boisterous crowds.

[Jitter65]

10. Most of those rallies in close proximity draw the same people...who love rallies. nt

[Armstead]

13. Yes people stand in line for hours in the cold to get in ...just because it's fun

Not that a sizable number of them actually care about the issues and the future of America