CBS/NYT: Clinton 48 Sanders 41

[Comrade Funk]

Hmmm....thought Hillary was ending the Sanders surge in the fall, but I guess I was wrong. Should be fun.

[Suburbia]

It's Berniementum. It's getting competitive. Bernie's biggest downsides is his foreign policy. Period. He's a pacifist. He seems weak on defense. Putin would eat him alive in a meeting. We will see.

[mencken]

Anybody who attacks Trump soon regrets it, Clinton being the latest example.

[Lief 🗽]

Maybe Sanders does better than Obama with Hispanics. Maybe. But we're already reaching a ceiling there. He will obviously do much worse with blacks, and Trump is just the kind of Republican that could really make inroads with them (maybe winning up to 15%, which makes a difference in swing states). And then Sanders will get clobbered with moderates and suburbanites. You think ordinary middle class swing voters in Northern Virginia or the Philly burbs are gonna vote for a 75-year-old socialist?? Trump is going to go hard to the middle once he's won the primaries, he'll de-emphasize the crazy stuff and triangulate, and he'll win the general.

[DrScholl]

Maybe Sanders does better than Obama with Hispanics. Maybe. But we're already reaching a ceiling there. He will obviously do much worse with blacks, and Trump is just the kind of Republican that could really make inroads with them (maybe winning up to 15%, which makes a difference in swing states). And then Sanders will get clobbered with moderates and suburbanites. You think ordinary middle class swing voters in Northern Virginia or the Philly burbs are gonna vote for a 75-year-old socialist?? Trump is going to go hard to the middle once he's won the primaries, he'll de-emphasize the crazy stuff and triangulate, and he'll win the general.

This. Sanders is a joke, yet he has a whole lot of people convinced that he can win over everyone. It's unrealistic to think that he can win the necessary votes.

[This account no longer in use.]

Maybe Sanders does better than Obama with Hispanics. Maybe. But we're already reaching a ceiling there. He will obviously do much worse with blacks, and Trump is just the kind of Republican that could really make inroads with them (maybe winning up to 15%, which makes a difference in swing states). And then Sanders will get clobbered with moderates and suburbanites. You think ordinary middle class swing voters in Northern Virginia or the Philly burbs are gonna vote for a 75-year-old socialist?? Trump is going to go hard to the middle once he's won the primaries, he'll de-emphasize the crazy stuff and triangulate, and he'll win the general.

This. Sanders is a joke, yet he has a whole lot of people convinced that he can win over everyone. It's unrealistic to think that he can win the necessary votes.

You do know Lief is trolling, right?

[Lief 🗽]

Not everyone who disagrees with your sage wisdom is trolling. I'm right about this and I'll be proven right if Democrats are stupid enough to nominate Sanders.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

If Sanders keeps this momentum up, prepare for a 2008 redux.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

If Sanders keeps this momentum up, prepare for a 2008 redux.

The problem is that the Sanders backers think the GE result will be the same.

[Eraserhead]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

[Lief 🗽]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

[Eraserhead]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you folks should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you guys should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

Indeed. People just need to remain calm. Polling oddities will happen.

[ProgressiveCanadian]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you guys should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

Indeed. People just need to remain calm. Polling oddities will happen.

Even Chealsea Clinton is attacking Sanders now (lying of course). Its obvious that the Clinton campaign believes these polls they are in panic mode.

[Lief 🗽]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you guys should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

Indeed. People just need to remain calm. Polling oddities will happen.

Even Chealsea Clinton is attacking Sanders now (lying of course). Its obvious that the Clinton campaign believes these polls they are in panic mode.

How is she lying? Sanders wants to get rid of Obamacare. That's a fact.

[Reaganfan]

Maybe Sanders does better than Obama with Hispanics. Maybe. But we're already reaching a ceiling there. He will obviously do much worse with blacks, and Trump is just the kind of Republican that could really make inroads with them (maybe winning up to 15%, which makes a difference in swing states). And then Sanders will get clobbered with moderates and suburbanites. You think ordinary middle class swing voters in Northern Virginia or the Philly burbs are gonna vote for a 75-year-old socialist?? Trump is going to go hard to the middle once he's won the primaries, he'll de-emphasize the crazy stuff and triangulate, and he'll win the general.

This. Sanders is a joke, yet he has a whole lot of people convinced that he can win over everyone. It's unrealistic to think that he can win the necessary votes.

For once, you and I are in complete agreement. My personal politics aside, Bernie Sanders cannot win a national election. His age, his physical appearance, his accent, his radical policies. Can you imagine the 40 years worth of swiftboat stuff that will be thrown at him?

I always mention my mother because she's a 47 yr old swing voter in suburban Ohio. She voted twice for Bush and twice for Obama. I can tell you just seeing Sanders on TV her reaction would be, "He looks like a crazy old man."

[ProgressiveCanadian]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you guys should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

Indeed. People just need to remain calm. Polling oddities will happen.

Even Chealsea Clinton is attacking Sanders now (lying of course). Its obvious that the Clinton campaign believes these polls they are in panic mode.

How is she lying? Sanders wants to get rid of Obamacare. That's a fact.

He wants single payer. He wants to expand Obamacare essentially having medicare for all. saying he wants to get rid of Obamacare and leaving it at that is extremely misleading. Even people on news media are saying it's a false claim.

[Lief 🗽]

No, he doesn't not want to "expand" Obamacare. He wants to repeal Obamacare (among other things like Medicaid, SCHIP, etc.) and replace it with a new law. Getting rid of something and replacing it with a new thing is not "expanding" that thing.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Guys you do realize that if Clinton can't even beat Bernie Sanders, she had no business going up against whoever the Republican is anyway.

Well yeah. If she isn't good enough to win the primary she wouldn't have been able to win the general anyway, IMO.

Maybe you guys should start pushing for a Biden entry.

We're getting ahead of ourselves though. This surge could recede next week for all we know.

Indeed. People just need to remain calm. Polling oddities will happen.

Even Chealsea Clinton is attacking Sanders now (lying of course). Its obvious that the Clinton campaign believes these polls they are in panic mode.

How is she lying? Sanders wants to get rid of Obamacare. That's a fact.

He wants single payer. He wants to expand Obamacare essentially having medicare for all. saying he wants to get rid of Obamacare and leaving it at that is extremely misleading. Even people on news media are saying it's a false claim.

My concern, even though I obviously support single-payer is that Sanders' policy puts Obamacare basically up for negotiation again, with people who will NEVER, EVER support anything that smells of single-payer.

Cold, hard political reality.

[ProgressiveCanadian]

No, he doesn't not want to "expand" Obamacare. He wants to repeal Obamacare (among other things like Medicaid, SCHIP, etc.) and replace it with a new law. Getting rid of something and replacing it with a new thing is not "expanding" that thing.

That's misleading and you know it. Obamacare is Dole's 1996 plan so really Sanders is wanting to be more progressive while Clinton wants to stay in the center. People realize that and are tired of Clinton as much as this forum can't comprehend that. Her favorables are down the drain why would you want her in the general?

[Lief 🗽]

It's not misleading. Sanders doesn't like Obamacare and wants to repeal and replace it. Clinton likes Obamacare and wants to protect it, improve it, and expand it. Those are clear differences that people like you are trying to obfuscate.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Clinton's lead on RCP is now at its lowest point ever this election cycle, at an average of 11.6%.

Actually, it just updated and now Clinton's lead is down to 8.6%! This is insane...

And just think, I, a relatively optimistic Bernie supporter, just this weekend thought the race might be Hillary +12 nationwide on the day of the Iowa caucus.

[ProgressiveCanadian]

It's not misleading. Sanders doesn't like Obamacare and wants to repeal and replace it. Clinton likes Obamacare and wants to protect it, improve it, and expand it. Those are clear differences that people like you are trying to obfuscate.

Oh god this argument is so horrible...no one would agree with this seriously? So Sanders is like the GOP?  You would think Obama would come out hard against him if this were true. Stop kidding yourself you hack. Also Trump want's to repeal it too but i don't see any outrage from you.

[Lief 🗽]

The difference, of course, is that TRUMP admits he wants to repeal Obamacare. Sanders' supporters, on the other hand, act deeply offended and outraged when it is correctly pointed out that Bernie wants to do the same.

The fact is that the Democratic spent a lot of time, energy, political capital, money and public trust on Obamacare. It's a major part of our President's legacy. We essentially traded our House majority for it. Bernie Sanders wants to, essentially, start all over again from scratch. He wants to go to the American people, and essentially tell them "Sorry about that Obamacare thing that we spent seven years defending, but it actually sucks and now we're going to do a whole new thing that is going to be many times more disruptive, many times more expensive, and this time literally zero of you are going to be able to keep your insurance, even if you like it!"

That's a tough sell. It will cost considerable political capital. It will strain what little trust the American people have left in the competency of the Democratic Party, in the competency of government, in the very idea of an activist government, to be told "oops, we messed up on healthcare reform, time to repeal it and start all over trying a totally new thing!" Sanders should be honest about this.

[Mehmentum]

The difference, of course, is that TRUMP admits he wants to repeal Obamacare. Sanders' supporters, on the other hand, act deeply offended and outraged when it is correctly pointed out that Bernie wants to do the same.

The fact is that the Democratic spent a lot of time, energy, political capital, money and public trust on Obamacare. It's a major part of our President's legacy. We essentially traded our House majority for it. Bernie Sanders wants to, essentially, start all over again from scratch. He wants to go to the American people, and essentially tell them "Sorry about that Obamacare thing that we spent seven years defending, but it actually sucks and now we're going to do a whole new thing that is going to be many times more disruptive, many times more expensive, and this time literally zero of you are going to be able to keep your insurance, even if you like it!"

That's a tough sell. It will cost considerable political capital. It will strain what little trust the American people have left in the competency of the Democratic Party, in the competency of government, in the very idea of an activist government, to be told "oops, we messed up on healthcare reform, time to repeal it and start all over trying a totally new thing!" Sanders should be honest about this.

I couldn't agree more.  Repealing and replacing the most significant Democratic achievement in decades would be ridiculously counterproductive.  I'm all for improving our healthcare system, but we should do it by strengthening and improving Obamacare, not starting over.