A brand new SurveyUSA poll done exclusively for the Guardian UK brings great news for those of us who want a strong, unified Democratic Party going forward to decimate the GOP in November. This poll, taken the the day after the California Primary, should assuage fears that Sanders supporters are “Bernie or Bust”ers, and will sit out the election — or worse. It shows that six times as many Sanders supporters will vote for Hillary in November as opposed to Trump. The survey of 1,408 registered voters also reveals that there is not appetite for an Independent run by Sanders, which would split the progressive vote.
When voters are offered the more expected lineup of Trump, Clinton, Stein and Johnson, it is the presumptive Democratic nominee who emerges on top with 39%, followed by Trump on 36%, Johnson at 6% and Stein on 4%. Only 5% of respondents told pollsters they would “stay at home and not vote” in this scenario.
Analysis of the Guardian poll results by SurveyUSA finds that there is more positive support emerging for Clinton among the most dedicated Sanders supporters – which indicates that Sanders’ supporters will be following his lead to support Clinton in November. It also looks like Sanders voters could help Clinton recapture support from young people, union members and voters in the midwest and north-east, returning the Democratic Party to its more traditional base.
Sanders himself is concentrating on strengthening the populist push of the Democratic Party:
At a rally on Thursday night in Washington DC, where Sanders plans to compete in the last primary next week, campaign aides told the Guardian he was particularly keen to use the convention to push the party to adopt paid family and medical leave and support big raises to the minimum wage.
However, the campaign is “undecided” on whether it will hold any more rallies, and Sanders did not mention Clinton once during his speech. Ignoring calls from a small group in the crowd to “stay in the race”, Sanders focused instead on the extent his campaign had helped shift the agenda. “What seems radical today, will seem mainstream tomorrow,” he said.
I am a fervent supporter of Sanders and his platform, having followed and cheered for the Congressman, now Senator from Vermont for decades. He entered the race last May in order to bring issues of income inequality, trade and healthcare to the fore of the discussion. He wanted to drive the discussion of our politics to the Left, and to inspire our citizenry to believe that they had the power to make government responsive to them if they would only rise up “by the millions and millions” to vote and influence their elected representatives. He has done the Democratic Party a tremendous service in this regard. But I am fully supporting Sec. Clinton for President this November. She has run a masterful campaign of grit and determination, of far-reaching planning and exhaustive outreach. Sanders’ message and indefatigable effort, combined with Clinton’s tremendous operation and political experience, means that we have a once-in-a-generation chance to shift the direction of American politics.
Sanders and Clinton will be working together enthusiastically to defeat Trump and to break the obstructionist control of the Republicans in Washington DC. We must follow their lead. Now it is well past time for Kossacks, whether proponents of Clinton or Sanders, to drop divisive attacks, sneers, smears, retorts, insults, and condemnations. Such negativity is literally doing the work of Trump trolls. They use the same sort of insults to intentionally divide us. In order to crush the Trumpublicans in November, all of us — on both sides- have to let go of the resentment for the comments and attitudes that infuriated us. We’ll have to treating each other with respect and good will, and be willing to find and affirm the positive in our fellow Democrats — even if it takes effort at first. But we can form alliances now that will work synergistically during the years of work ahead.
In November, we will have a chance to begin the return of our democracy to the citizens instead of the Plutocrats. To accomplish that goal, we cannot afford to waste our time giving in to suspicion and antagonism. Building a more democratic future will require labor: organizing, phone calls, meetups, walking the neighborhoods, outreach and constant pressure of our current Congresspeople. It will demand planning, seeking out and developing candidates for every office in every election, from School Boards to the Senate. It will mean getting out the vote and showing up on Election Day. We can create a powerful cadre of elected representatives within the Democratic Party who will run, legislate and vote on shared Progressive values of justice, equality, peace, and the general good. I believe that President Clinton will sign any piece of Liberal legislation that Congress can deliver to her. It is up to us to deliver the Congress that would pass such legislation.
We must elect Progressives in the midterms, and then in 2020, break GOP gerrymandering in all 50 states. If President Clinton begins to waver from her promises to fight against climate change, income inequality, or wavers from her commitments to the rights of women, of people of color, and of the dispossessed, we must hold her feet to the fire. And if she won’t come with us as we hack down the tentacles of Oligarchy and militarism, we may have to primary her. But I am hopeful that she will be there for us if we are fighting along with her.
The struggle continues. With Clinton, we have a chance to work for a just society, a halt to environmental ruin, and an end to violence as the American Way. Under Trump, we face a certain end to world peace and the environment, and the camps for those who stand up against it. The choice couldn’t be more stark. The results of this survey show that we are united in battle. Our duty is to guarantee victory.