What if Bernie Sanders had become Biden's running mate?

[holtridge]

I know people wanted him to pick a woman of color as his running mate, but what if Bernie Sanders had been on the ticket?

[WalterWhite]

The map would have probably been the same map as the one in 2020, with the exception of Georgia. Bernie Sanders might have been slightly too left-wing for Georgia voters.

[Bernie Derangement Syndrome Haver]

The ticket would have lost every state that Biden won by under 5%. Bernie Sanders is an electoral poison. I thank God every day he didn't win the primary.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Two old white guys being on the same ticket would have been more of a detriment than any possible benefits Sanders being his running mate would offer. In particular, Florida probably would have been lost by almost twice as much, or something like that.

[TDAS04]

Biden/Sanders still would have won the election, most likely.

[Landslide Lyndon]

That would have been a disastrous pick on so many levels. It would have spooked suburbanites back to Trump while Bernie bros would have probably denounced Sanders as a sellout and still vote Trump and Green like they always intended.

[Sumner 1868]

No change whatsoever. The centrist cult lives in a hostile alternate universe.

[Pres Mike]

My dream ticket

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The ticket would have lost every state that Biden won by under 5%. Bernie Sanders is an electoral poison. I thank God every day he didn't win the primary.

I've never seen an ounce of evidence for this other than scarred ex-New Left boomers pointing to McGovern in 1972, or thinking that Trump saying "he's a socialist who wants to raise your taxes" would suddenly have shifted all swing voters towards him. In his actual electoral performances in the Senate, Sanders has always outperformed Generic D, and among politicians with near-universal name recognition he almost always has the highest favorables other than Barack Obama. There were a non-zero number of Romney/Sanders voters in 2012.

I'm not obsessed with relitigating 2016 the way some people are, but I'll never quite get over Democratic primary voters selecting Hillary Clinton on the basis of electability when every poll ever taken showed her performing much worse against Trump/Cruz/Rubio than Sanders, and, of course, when she lost by tanking in the exact same areas where Sanders could have tanked Trump's appeal.

[Minnesota Mike]

Biden would have lost. 

[Bush did 311]

Would've actually won by the amount the polls said he was going to. Biden is particularly weak with hispanic voters compared to other democrats and Bernie would've been much better about consolidating them than Harris - whose demographic is mostly beltway insiders.

[Pres Mike]

The ticket would have lost every state that Biden won by under 5%. Bernie Sanders is an electoral poison. I thank God every day he didn't win the primary.

I've never seen an ounce of evidence for this other than scarred ex-New Left boomers pointing to McGovern in 1972, or thinking that Trump saying "he's a socialist who wants to raise your taxes" would suddenly have shifted all swing voters towards him. In his actual electoral performances in the Senate, Sanders has always outperformed Generic D, and among politicians with near-universal name recognition he almost always has the highest favorables other than Barack Obama. There were a non-zero number of Romney/Sanders voters in 2012.

I'm not obsessed with relitigating 2016 the way some people are, but I'll never quite get over Democratic primary voters selecting Hillary Clinton on the basis of electability when every poll ever taken showed her performing much worse against Trump/Cruz/Rubio than Sanders, and, of course, when she lost by tanking in the exact same areas where Sanders could have tanked Trump's appeal.

Who voted for Hillary in the primary because she was more "electable"? It was obvious even in 2015 she had issues. She won the primary from the loyalty of black voters age 40+, who are the biggest slice of democratic primary voters. Bernie lost because he didn't have strong appeal to minorities in 2016. He fixed that with Hispanics in 2020, not blacks

[Landslide Lyndon]

Would've actually won by the amount the polls said he was going to. Biden is particularly weak with hispanic voters compared to other democrats and Bernie would've been much better about consolidating them than Harris - whose demographic is mostly beltway insiders.

Tell me you are a white edgelord without telling me you are a white edgelord.

[Xing]

The idea that a VP pick who isn't someone widely hated by everyone would have an enormous impact on the ticket is laughable. Crazy to think that SDS is still a thing in late 2023, after Biden won the primary and the presidency and Sanders hasn't even been in the spotlight recently, no less! People almost always vote for the top of the ticket. Biden would've perhaps won over a small number of voters who weren't satisfied with him or Harris (particularly young voters and Latinos) and perhaps lost a small handful of moderates and the 15 most terminally online Sanders haters. So, in balance, pretty much no change overall.

[DrScholl]

Biden would have lost. For one thing, an all White ticket would not have boosted turnout (it's part of what hurt Clinton in 2016) and second it would have been a ticket that was too old. Biden's age was mitigated by the fact that he chose a much younger VP. Lastly, Sanders and his staff would have constantly undermined Biden with their own strategy.

[Alben Barkley]

I can't for the life of me imagine why he wouldn't just pick Warren if he wanted to appeal more to the progressive wing. Going with a guy even older than him would have been electoral suicide.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Biden would obviously still win but we'd never hear the end of the "Bernie cost Biden Florida" BS.

[flyboy1058]

What is electoral poison??? The only reason Bernie Sanders was not elected president is because he tells the truth! People do not want to hear the truth. That was proven when that guy before Biden miraculously was elected president. He lied eight times a day! His whole life has been lies and deception. One big lie is his stance on abortion. Used to be pro choice and now he is pro life and says the woman should be prosecuted! Can you believe that? He only said that to get votes. That's it! He lies every time he opens up his fat mouth! Every time he's on TV I fast forward it because I don't want to hear the BS. It's only meant to get people pissed off and vote for him or donate money. Every time he says witch hunt or hands they're out to get him he gets 1000 more votes and $100,000. It's just insane!

I saw hey huge banner that covered the entire garage of this guys house that's said
"F@#% Joe Biden" This guy has lost touch with reality! Now think about 1 million other guys that think the same way. It's like he was poisoned. Pulling he was poisoned with mega propaganda just like hitler poisoned the German people.

The ticket would have lost every state that Biden won by under 5%. Bernie Sanders is an electoral poison. I thank God every day he didn't win the primary.

I've never seen an ounce of evidence for this other than scarred ex-New Left boomers pointing to McGovern in 1972, or thinking that Trump saying "he's a socialist who wants to raise your taxes" would suddenly have shifted all swing voters towards him. In his actual electoral performances in the Senate, Sanders has always outperformed Generic D, and among politicians with near-universal name recognition he almost always has the highest favorables other than Barack Obama. There were a non-zero number of Romney/Sanders voters in 2012.

I'm not obsessed with relitigating 2016 the way some people are, but I'll never quite get over Democratic primary voters selecting Hillary Clinton on the basis of electability when every poll ever taken showed her performing much worse against Trump/Cruz/Rubio than Sanders, and, of course, when she lost by tanking in the exact same areas where Sanders could have tanked Trump's appeal.

Who voted for Hillary in the primary because she was more "electable"? It was obvious even in 2015 she had issues. She won the primary from the loyalty of black voters age 40+, who are the biggest slice of democratic primary voters. Bernie lost because he didn't have strong appeal to minorities in 2016. He fixed that with Hispanics in 2020, not blacks

[Ragnaroni]

What is electoral poison??? The only reason Bernie Sanders was not elected president is because he tells the truth! People do not want to hear the truth. That was proven when that guy before Biden miraculously was elected president. He lied eight times a day! His whole life has been lies and deception. One big lie is his stance on abortion. Used to be pro choice and now he is pro life and says the woman should be prosecuted! Can you believe that? He only said that to get votes. That's it! He lies every time he opens up his fat mouth! Every time he's on TV I fast forward it because I don't want to hear the BS. It's only meant to get people pissed off and vote for him or donate money. Every time he says witch hunt or hands they're out to get him he gets 1000 more votes and $100,000. It's just insane!

I saw hey huge banner that covered the entire garage of this guys house that's said
"F@#% Joe Biden" This guy has lost touch with reality! Now think about 1 million other guys that think the same way. It's like he was poisoned. Pulling he was poisoned with mega propaganda just like hitler poisoned the German people.

The ticket would have lost every state that Biden won by under 5%. Bernie Sanders is an electoral poison. I thank God every day he didn't win the primary.

I've never seen an ounce of evidence for this other than scarred ex-New Left boomers pointing to McGovern in 1972, or thinking that Trump saying "he's a socialist who wants to raise your taxes" would suddenly have shifted all swing voters towards him. In his actual electoral performances in the Senate, Sanders has always outperformed Generic D, and among politicians with near-universal name recognition he almost always has the highest favorables other than Barack Obama. There were a non-zero number of Romney/Sanders voters in 2012.

I'm not obsessed with relitigating 2016 the way some people are, but I'll never quite get over Democratic primary voters selecting Hillary Clinton on the basis of electability when every poll ever taken showed her performing much worse against Trump/Cruz/Rubio than Sanders, and, of course, when she lost by tanking in the exact same areas where Sanders could have tanked Trump's appeal.

Who voted for Hillary in the primary because she was more "electable"? It was obvious even in 2015 she had issues. She won the primary from the loyalty of black voters age 40+, who are the biggest slice of democratic primary voters. Bernie lost because he didn't have strong appeal to minorities in 2016. He fixed that with Hispanics in 2020, not blacks

Bernie was generally agreed to be to the left of the median american and was probably a liability for Biden in 2020 who was running a center left to center campaign largely based off moderation and opposition to Trump. It worked. Bernie would have probably dampened his chances in a swing state or two (AZ, WI etc were all within 10k)

[wnwnwn]

Georgia and Arizona would have voted for Trump. Biden would have still won. Maybe Ohio would have voted 0,5% more democrat.

[junior chįmp]

Trump is a lifelong con artist who bragged about sexual assault on tape and yet still won and election nerd stiffs are like "Sanders would of cost Biden the election cuz he far left."

[junior chįmp]

I can't for the life of me imagine why he wouldn't just pick Warren if he wanted to appeal more to the progressive wing. Going with a guy even older than him would have been electoral suicide.

Because the Democratic party doesn't give a flying fukk about its progressive wing.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Aside from the fact that it would have been an optical disaster I don't think Bernie would have even wanted to. He was able to have some influence on Biden behind the scenes despite the fact that he took flack from some of his supporters for having endorsed him.

[Ragnaroni]

Trump is a lifelong con artist who bragged about sexual assault on tape and yet still won and election nerd stiffs are like "Sanders would of cost Biden the election cuz he far left."

But this is America, even some in my family (Manhattan Dems) said they'd vote GOP over Bernie because he's a "communist"

[BlueSwan]

Trump is a lifelong con artist who bragged about sexual assault on tape and yet still won and election nerd stiffs are like "Sanders would of cost Biden the election cuz he far left."

But this is America, even some in my family (Manhattan Dems) said they'd vote GOP over Bernie because he's a "communist"

Yup. Young people have no idea how the older generations view socialists/communists. A self-described socialist cannot win a US presidential election until demographics have changed considerably from now.