Most Democratic voters do NOT want Bernie to drop out.

[cali]

An excellent piece by The New Yorker's astute John Cassidy:

Why Bernie Sanders Is Staying in the Race

Donald Trump more or less wrapping up the Republican nomination on Tuesday night, the fact that Bernie Sanders also scored a big victory in Indiana was somewhat overlooked. The Vermont senator overcame a sizable deficit in the opinion polls to finish ahead of Hillary Clinton by almost seven percentage points in a heartland state that she carried in 2008. It was his biggest upset since he won in Michigan, in March.

In a series of interviews on Wednesday, Sanders confirmed that he will stay in the Democratic race until at least June 14th, when the final primary will be held, in Washington, D.C. Sanders also said that he would try to win over Democratic superdelegates who are currently committed to his opponent, a strategy that could extend the contest until the Party Convention, in Philadelphia, at the end of July. “I think we have got to make the case that the superdelegates, who in many cases were onboard [with] Hillary Clinton even before I got in the race, that they should take a hard look at which candidate is stronger against Donald Trump,” Sanders said to NPR’s Steve Inskeep. “And I think we can make that case.”


Sanders’s determination to press on is causing consternation in the Clinton camp, and in the Democratic Party establishment. Eager to avoid alienating Sanders’s large body of supporters, most Party figures have avoided publicly calling on him to quit, but some are citing Trump’s victory as a reason to unify behind Clinton. “If [Sanders] wants to stay in and discuss the platform, that’s obviously his right,” Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served in Bill Clinton’s Administration, told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent. “But at this point, we’re on the verge of a choice between someone eminently sensible and qualified, and someone who is a real wild card. It’s a little frightening having him out there trying to take down the sensible candidate.”

In the weeks ahead, the calls for Sanders to wrap up his campaign are likely to become more explicit. He seems certain to ignore them, and he has at least four reasons to do so. First, most of his supporters want him to keep going. Second, he still has a (very) slim chance of obtaining the nomination. Third, there isn’t much evidence that his dropping out would affect the result in November. And fourth, back in 2008, Clinton herself did something very similar to what Sanders is doing now, extending her primary contest with Barack Obama well beyond the point at which most commentators had concluded that she had no chance of winning.

<snip>

Since the primary season began, Sanders has won more than nine million votes and finished ahead of Clinton in eighteen states. (Clinton has won more than twelve million votes and won twenty-three states.) Sanders continues to attract large crowds—on Thursday he will be campaigning in West Virginia—and he seems likely to win more primaries in the coming weeks, including in West Virginia, on May 10th, and Oregon, on May 17th. If he were to end his campaign now, many of his supporters would be furious, and even some Democrats who aren’t necessarily backing him would be disappointed. According to new poll from NBC News/Survey Monkey, fifty-seven per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaners want Sanders to campaign until the Convention, and just sixteen per cent think he should drop out now. Eighty-nine per cent of Sanders’s supporters said they wanted him to keep going until July. More surprisingly, perhaps, twenty-eight per cent of Clinton’s supporters agreed.

<snip>
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/why-bernie-sanders-is-staying-in-the-race

[katmondoo]

1. I do and I supported him here in Florida

[cali]

2. You are in a minority.

[silvershadow]

4. you are in the minority

[onehandle]

3. He can concede without dropping out.

They are not the same thing.

So the very question was a fail.

[FarPoint]

5. I most certainly want him to drop out of the Democratic Primary.

He can try again in 4 years...if he sticks around as a Democrat. Only time will tell if he was just a freeloading Hitchhiker or sincerely switching/ upgrading into the Democratic Party.

[silvershadow]

7. That's kind of how I feel about The Third Way. nt

[cali]

8. Sigh. So what? The point of the post is that most dem voters do not.

And he's 74. He's hardly going to be running again.

As for whether he remains a dem, Vermonters could not possibly care less. This Vermonter doesn't believe that being a democrat is a step up. Nor do most voters. Most voters are neither dems or republicans.

[NurseJackie]

10. Would he have pursued a 2nd term ...

... or was he only in it for a one term revolution?

[cali]

11. No. And the revolution is not just about his becoming President.

[NurseJackie]

12. I kinda figured he wouldn't.

His glaring lack of support for down-ballot candidates and the apparent unwillingness of many of his supporters to bother voting down-ballot makes me question whether or not it was indeed a top down revolution.

But ... that's neither here nor there any more. Water under the bridge ... Monday morning quarterbacking ... 20/20 hindsight and all that.

[cali]

13. Lol. Bernie has long supported down ballot dem candidates, dear nurse.

Another Clinton lie.

[NurseJackie]

14. As long as they supported him in return.

That's no way to run a revolution.

EDIT: It's especially notable when Bernie's own supporters aren't voting down-ballot for the judges (see: Wisconsin) and even senatorial candidates that more closely align with Bernie's philosophy (see: Donna Edwards, Maryland). Do they just not care? Or did Bernie not do a good enough job of impressing upon them that such things are important? Or did his supporters simply believe that a vote for Bernie is all it takes to let the magic begin? It's all very odd.

[cali]

20. More wonderful nurse Jackie patented bull.

[NurseJackie]

21. The facts speak for themselves. Little wonder you remain silent ...

... except to try and make it personal. Oh well.

Have a nice day.

[roguevalley]

19. HRC isn't supporting down ticket dems. She's laundering and pocketing money. The memes are so sad

around here

[silvershadow]

6. I don't want him to drop out before the actual delegate math is more clear.

That may not happen until California. If so, so be it. I will be happy either way, as long as all of the votes are counted, and as long as all of the numerous irregularities are accounted for, to the extent they can be.

[Demsrule86]

16. Bad link

This article is linked to a different much new article by the same author. Why?

[seaglass]

9. He should stay until June 14. If at that time he does not have more pledged delegates and a higher

popular vote count than Hillary he should end his campaign. The SD strategy is a joke.

[Demsrule86]

15. This is an old post liked to a different article.

Democrats do not want Bernie to stay in the race...no doubt, Bernie Sanders supporters do...this is sloppy and misleading...the link is for a different article. How about a link to the article you quote?

[cali]

17. No. John says it's a new poll.

[felix_numinous]

18. Telling Bernie to just drop out

has been the ONLY campaign strategy of HRC since January. Paying off media conglomerates and pundits is expensive. How long can they drown out the progressive movement and the effects of climate change? This establishment will remain in denial until they will be forced to respond.