Edit: Oh and Trump will beat Bernie. He is too radical and too much of a zealot. Elizabeth Warren is the most whacked of any of the candidates (cant stand her). I like Bernie a lot but dont agree with his policies and dont think he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning.
Disagree on that front. He has a real following just like Trump had a real following. I think he probably has the best shot of anybody because of that.
I don't think the radicalness is a problem because Trump would paint anybody who ran against him as a radical. I don't see how it's something that makes him weaker more than anyone else.
Trump has apparently never polled above 50%, according to something I read today, which is rather unusual. That makes him pretty vulnerable, especially against an energized opposition.
Interest in voting is growing more quickly in large cities than rural areas. New Hampshire turnout for Democrats was higher than 2008, although I suppose something could be said for the relatively large turnout for the Republican primary.
Elections seem to be won more by getting your side to show up; I think the issue of Bernie alienating people is vastly overstated due to this. Trump was supposed to lose in a landslide because of how alienating he would be (according to the idea of the importance of sticking to the middle), but he squeaked by because of large rural turnout. Hell, I expected you to be more anti-Bernie than you are.
This poll has Sanders as the only candidate beating Trump . I believe from my poll-watching this Emerson poll has been more favorable to Trump than many of the other polls.
I think defeating Trumpism requires audacity, and Bernie's the candidate that has that the most. If Trump represents something unprecedented for our country, then it will take something unprecedented to defeat him. I don't think we can defeat Trump by false expectations of hoping to return to normalcy; normalcy and "America is already great" was Hillary's campaign, and that didn't work out too well for her. Also, the extent to which the MAGA folks underestimate Bernie looks rather familiar; it reminds me of the attitude Democrats had towards Trump in 2016. If Bernie doesn't face a contested convention, I imagine he goes on to defeat Trump.
I've always seen Presidential candidates that try to win a general by trying to ape the other party lose, at least since I've been able to vote and it was my responsibility to pay attention to these things. We have John Kerry "reporting for duty", McCain being a maverick, Romney's history of laying a template for Obamacare, Clinton's reliance on a mass defection of Republicans,... etc. I'm willing to try something entirely different and see where it gets us. Obama's message of "change" worked out. I thin this will work, too.
