With the race winding down and all signs pointing to Donald Trump as the GOP nominee, the real estate mogul is now looking to shift his gears towards a new set of voters: Bernie Sanders supporters.
It seems pretty inevitable Trump will be squaring off with Hillary Clinton come next November, and he knows it. With his past tactics focused on attacking the Clinton campaign, he’s now added supporting Bernie Sanders to the mix.
“The Democrats have treated Bernie very badly,” has been Mr. Trump’s go-to line these days.
Alluding to perceived shortcomings of the Clinton campaign that Senator Sanders has highlighted in the past, Trump is hoping to get Sanders’ more liberal and independent camp to cross over and join him in his anti-establishment crusade. But Democratic liberals aren’t biting.
According to a recent poll conducted by the Washington Post/ABC News, of the Democratic electorate who support Bernie Sanders, only 13 percent viewed Donald Trump favorably, with a remaining 86 percent viewing him unfavorably. Of those supporters, 10 percent said that they would vote for Trump, while 77 percent said they’d go with Hillary Clinton in a general election.
In theory, the idea of Sanders’ supporters aligning themselves with the Trump campaign makes a bit of sense. Both men have separated themselves from the traditional views of their respective parties, instead campaigning for reform on Wall Street, raising minimum wages, and challenging international trade agreements.
However, the distinct differences between both Sanders and Trump are too obvious to ignore. While Sanders’ plans seem a bit too idealistic at times, he can back them up. Donald Trump’s shortcomings appear in the form of a serious lack of any political background, and an even greater lack of detail in policies he promises to implement.
It also doesn’t hurt to acknowledge that while Trump and Sanders supporters agree on plenty of economic issues, they differ drastically in demographics.
The aforementioned poll shows that on the issue of deporting illegal immigrants, eight out of 10 Trump supporters agreed with the idea while only two out of 10 Sanders supporters did. On Trump’s call to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the country, seven out of 10 of his supporters agreed, while Sanders supporters virtually felt the same as they did on deportation.
Unless Sanders supporters suddenly agree with Trump’s brash ideals, it seems Hillary Clinton will likely be the candidate Sanders voters flock to, and Donald Trump’s perceived sweep of the nation come November won’t be as clean as he hopes.
