Bernie Sanders has always had reasonable cross-over appeal. In VT he has won many socially conservative areas by trying to unite people for an economic agenda which works for low income people. There is a big chunk of socially moderate/conservative & economically liberal people & Bernie appealed to them by harping less on identity politics, political calculation, through a personal appeal & honesty & an inclusive agenda.
Abortion, Gay Marriage, Guns still tend to be divisive issues in many rural culturally conservative areas & Sanders had a very liberal abortion & gay marriage record but he chose to focus on a uniting economic message.
This is similar to what FDR did, uber lefty & super liberal (way to the left of Sanders) but he consistently won many conservative areas including the south by uniting people around an economic message !
I think you hit the nail on the head. As I remember, Sanders' record on guns and race were his weak spots. Clinton even tried to blame the gun problem in New York on the lax gun laws in Vermont. It was a pretty absurd argument, and I recall the debate moderators even calling her out on it, but she was still able to paint him as someone from a white rural state that was too weak on guns and race matters.
Record on race? The guy supported affirmative action, went to jail to protest against segregation. A Goldwater girl who coined the term Super-predators pushing harsher penalties & who campaign started the Obama maybe a Muslim Kenyan talking about race to Sanders?
Anyways it does help that Clinton wanted to pin Sanders as a pro-gun (despite a D- minus record), white rural male candidate with no ties or support of the Democratic establishment, no support from corporations and the business candidate with scant appeal or reach to the black community. She herself painted him as the anti-establishment, outsider candidate with no ties to any of the establishment factions or the Democratic party !
Yet another cool thread, with a bunch of posters making some pretty solid points...
hcallega, Pragmatic Populist, McGovern4Prez, Ted Bessell, PR, Techno Timmy, GoTfan, Mr. Morden, Shadows, in order of posting.
My thoughts are this:
1.) Bernie was laser focused on economic justice issues in an era where the vast majority of American voters feel abandoned by both political parties. His support in many extremely economically depressed rural areas, including some heavily Republican Counties, was widely received as offering an alternative vision to the two-party consensus.
2.) Authenticity- HRC and Trump both flip-flopped like crazy during the '16 Primary and General Election Campaigns. Even by the standards of flip-flopping in Modern American Political History, this was a mind blowing election.
3.) Rural "Democrat" is a fresh concept, considering how states like New York (Clinton), Illinois (Obama), Massachusetts (Kerry) are viewed in many parts of Middle America. Heck, even Gore was tainted by virtue of being a Veep under Clinton and too many years in Washington cost him Tennessee in '00.
4.) Main Street vs Wall Street--- Many of y'all on the Forum don't necessarily understand how upset average Americans from all regions and political backgrounds are, by the economic collapse and the Great Recession. Although running against Wall Street isn't going to win a ton of votes in NYC/NJ/SE CT, we all know how we got screw** by the collapse of '08.
Most Americans do not support banking deregulation, since that is what caused the s**t to happen in the first place.
Health Care- There are many conservatives that support some variation of government funded health care in the US. Not sure if anyone out here has Senior family members trying to cover the gaps in their Medicare plans rolling through 3rd Party providers, and having to pay through the nose for the cost of their medical care.
5.) Foreign Policy- For all of the NeoCons and Pro-War supporters of regime change out there, the mood of the American public has shifted dramatically within both the Democratic and Republican Parties, as well as "Independent" Voters.
After the flawed war in Iraq that destabilized the region, most Americans have no stomach for elective wars of choice.
Personally, next to economic protectionism, I believe this is why Trump won in '16.
6.) Trade Policy-- Sure studies are all over the map on this one. However what is now crystal clear in light of the Post-Trump election hangover, is that the fundamental concept of rebuilding America, transcends the traditional ideological paradigms and conventional wisdom.
Is it "Conservative", "Liberal", "Socialist" to promote massive investments in American jobs and infrastructure?
7.) Guns- There are many who identify as "conservative" who own firearms for personal protection, hunting, target shooting, etc....
HRC launched a broadsided assault against Bernie hammering him on Guns at a critical debate during the Democratic Primaries...
Bernie stood his ground, and restated common sense items regarding closing gun loopholes and universal background checks (Which 90% of Gun Owners support).
A ton of Conservatives, including many friends, respected Bernie's honesty on the subject, and also as a moderating voice on the hyper-partisan bag where HRC was essentially claiming that anyone who died at the hands of a gun in America, should be able to sue the manufacturer of the Gun!
That is insane, and IMHO played a major reason in the dramatic decline of support between Obama '12/HRC '16. Voters just don't "forget" these statements come GE time.
