Sanders won, but he's not the big story coming out of New Hampshire

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/11/sanders-won-hes-not-big-story-coming-out-new-hampshire/

The New Hampshire primary may very well be remembered for the third- through fifth-place finishers and for how surprisingly close the race between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — the overwhelming favorite who won with 60 percent in 2016 — and former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg was. Sanders was leading in the polls, but he nearly fell to the former Midwest mayor less than half his age.

Sanders was projected as the winner, but the margin of his victory was modest (less than 2 percent). As in Iowa, he did not juice the turnout with an influx of new voters as he promised. The youngest voters made up 12 percent on Tuesday compared with 19 percent in 2016. The Democratic establishment has panicked at the prospect of a Sanders win, but he now looks like a vulnerable front-runner, with well over half of his support coming from voters 18 to 29 and more than half coming from “very liberal” voters. If he was looking to expand beyond his traditional base, he did not do it. He actually got a larger share of repeat voters than first-time voters.

With the electorate heavily skewed in favor of electability (60 percent) rather than agreement on the issues, and about half the voters finding Sanders too liberal, there is reason to believe voters have become wary of Sanders as the standard bearer in a must-win election. His base of support seems not to have grown significantly from the start of the race.

Buttigieg, who won the most delegates in Iowa, finished strong in New Hampshire as well, overcoming questions about his experience. Buttigieg did almost as well with younger voters as with older ones, a sign of expanding appeal. His support was rather evenly spread among all education levels. He also won among voters who decided on Election Day and in the past few days, a sign his debate performance did nothing to slow his rise. He has yet to make inroads with African American candidates in other states, but he has grown beyond his initial base (mostly college-educated and older voters).

snip

[Laelth]

1. Nice. Thanks for posting. n/t

-Laelth

[StrictlyRockers]

2. The spin is strong with this one.

Well played.

[jcmaine72]

18. Well played? Nah, it's actually played out.

Bernie can no right in the eyes of his haters. Even if he had won by an 80% margin, the jeer & sneer section would still be denigrating him and trying to spin it as an humiliating defeat for not winning it by 81%.

You'd think some people would be more concerned with how poorly their own candidates of choice are fairing in the primaries thus far instead of trying to constantly diminish Bernie, especially those whose candidates have now lost two primaries in a row. You'd think.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Purely anecdotal,

but one of the bands that I follow in Austin with broad appeal in the 20-40 age group indicated their support for Bernie again this year on Facebook. The comments were lukewarm towards that endorsement. If Bernie isn't appealing to that particular group in the most liberal city in Texas, then he is going to be disappointed in the results on Super Tuesday.

[DUgosh]

4. I agree

I was in Drippin last week

[True Blue American]

5. I just listened to a human interest story on CBS

About New Hampshire. Half the people in the state are Opoid or heroin addicts. They are not representative of the Country. Mostly white. Iowa is 91% white..

We need a nationwide Primary instead of this piecemeal mess we have now. Even the head of the New Hampshire Party said it was outdated!

[Joinfortmill]

6. That statistic

seems exaggerated at best.

[littlemissmartypants]

8. The Addiction Crisis In New Hampshire Shapes Presidential Primary Votes

Drug addiction is a major problem in New Hampshire. For many of those affected, the issue shapes their views of the presidential elections.

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/804616745/the-addiction-crisis-in-new-hampshire-shapes-presidential-primary-votes

[True Blue American]

9. Thanks for that.

This is why I have turned off the hysteria of the cable news and listen to local.

I flipped on MSNBC and Chris Mathews was raving like a crazy person about the Democrats and how bad they are. Had to turn on the local CBS station to hear that about drugs and the Roger Stone Prosecutors quitting.

[tirebiter]

7. We have a national primary

It’s called the general election.

[True Blue American]

10. Even the leader of

The New Hampshire Party said the caucus and New Hampshire Primary were out dated and should be abolished.

[Mike 03]

11. So much of who people vote for is perception.

Too many people who thought, "Pete and Amy can't happen because of early polling or other factors" now see them both as entirely possible.

That changes everything. We have to see what happens over the next month.

[BlueMTexpat]

12. IMO, the bigger story

was Amy Klobuchar.

After all, Bernie and Pete have been neck and neck in the NH polls for the past several days. It would have surprised me had that outcome been much different.

Amy wasn't that close.

Congratulations to all three!

**********
That said, however, since the ascent of Eugene McCarthy in NH in 1968, I have never believed that NH was a true bellwether state for selecting the Democratic nominee for President. I have said this many times before and will likely believe it until I go to my Maker ... or wherever. I will likely not see that many more Presidential elections.

With its "open" primary, there is too much opportunity for mischief-making.

And I am still in Warren's corner. Solidly.

[Celerity]

13. that is what the author said, I couldn't post the whole article due to the 4 paragraph rule

[BlueMTexpat]

14. Sorry, Celerity, my bad!

I merely skimmed the posted excerpt.

I should know better.

[Celerity]

15. it is oki, lol, I also realise many do not have a subscription to WaPo like I do

I get it for only roughly 2 USD per month due to my university here in Sweden

same for the NYT

Best 4 dollar spend per month I do

super content rich papers

I also donate money to the Guardian UK

those are my 3 favourite major newspapers

[BlueMTexpat]

16. Mine too!

Good choices, for the most part.

[Amimnoch]

17. A very interesting poll on CNN was Pete actually brought in the most first time voters..

was 5-6% more first time voters voted for Pete than they did for Bernie.

bookmarking this one for a link if CNN puts it up. Tried to get my camera out and post, but was already off screen. hoping to catch it on a loop before I go to work.

[DanTex]

19. Jennifer Rubin. LOL.

[Cha]

20. KR