Sanders tied for FIRST among REPUBLICANS in VT

[pinebox]

This has flown under the radar.

A lot of dems say "he can't win a general" yet he can and this is exactly the path which will take him to the White House.
This is something Hillary can't do, getting the votes from indy and Republicans along with dems. A trifecta of awesomeness.
Once the debates begin and the American people hear his message, they'll know what VT voters have known all along, he's the real deal.

Sanders Tied for First Among Vermont Republicans

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2015/09/17/sanders-tied-for-first-among-vermont-republicans

Not even Vermont Republicans can resist Bernie-mania.

According to a new poll conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is tied for first place in the presidential race among Vermonters who identify as Republican or leaning Republican. The poll, conducted over the past three weeks, found that Sanders, businessman Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson each drew 12 percent of the GOP vote.

"He's the native son, so you expect a lot of support," institute director Rich Clark, who conducted the poll, says of Sanders. "But I didn't expect it to be as high among Republicans."

To be sure, Sanders is hardly walking away with the Republican vote. More than twice as many Vermont GOPers — 28 percent — say they're undecided. The rest are split between a fractured field, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who drew 8 percent, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who drew 6 percent.

Not surprisingly, Sanders, who recently overtook former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in polls of New Hampshire and Iowa Democrats, performed even better in Vermont among Democrats and independents. Sixty-five percent of those who identify as Democratic or lean Democratic said they backed Sanders, while 14 percent supported Clinton. Among Vermont independents, 39 percent support Sanders, nearly 20 percent support Trump and 7 percent support Clinton, the poll found.

"We see outsiders surging all around," Clark says.

Overall, 48 percent of Vermonters say they hope to see Sanders in the White House — but they're not so sure it's gonna happen. Forty-six percent say they expect Clinton to win the Democratic nomination, compared to 27 percent who think Sanders will. Twenty-six percent expect former Florida governor Jeb Bush to win the Republican nomination, compared to 21 percent who think Trump will.

"Most people are saying it's going to be Clinton-Bush, like the pundits have told us," Clark says.

Results from Castleton's poll were first released Wednesday night during a Republican debate-watching party at Rutland's Paramount Theatre, as the Rutland Herald's Rob Mitchell first reported. The event was the first in a series called Project 240 — cosponsored by Castleton University and the Paramount — designed to increase civic engagement ahead of the 2016 elections.

The poll's overall margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent, though the margin much higher for subsamples, such as Republicans or Democrats.

See Castleton's full results below.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/281652766/Castleton-Polling-Institute-s-Sept-2015-Vermont-presidential-poll

[valerief]

1. I know someone who thought Sarah Palin was great back in 2008. I said maybe for a lap dance

but not for vice president.

Anyway, he plans to stop by house soon, and I told not to be alarmed that I had a Bernie sign out front. He said that was fine with him. He likes Bernie!

Bernie, the guy who uses the truth to bring people together politically.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. Take that, sensible centrists. nt

[randys1]

3. There could be a sub set in the GOP of not completely too stupid to breathe folks

who are willing to accept social progress which they see as regress as long as they get someone like Bernie who is willing to take on Wall Street and capitalism.

Not sure how many.

Wont find many in the Southern states I am willing to bet, but maybe in the north and west, maybe.

THIS is why I want to see a poll, in March, of all candidates nationwide.

I want to see how many people are looking at Bernie and Hillary and whoever the idiots put up.

[SCantiGOP]

4. A Democrat carrying Vermont

Indicates absolutely nothing about the general election. Is it an endorsement of a Republican candidate's strength to have a lead in Mississippi?

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Um ... and this matters why?

[pinebox]

8. Because it's easy

Re-read what I said please in my OP.
Bernie has the ability to being a trifecta of voters together. No other candidate is able to do that. And now you see his path to the White House.

[WI_DEM]

6. He's getting 12% of the GOP vote in Vermont.

[bunnies]

7. Has anyone ever won both D and R primaries in one state?

Id love to see that happen.

[brooklynite]

9. As Vermont goes, so goes....Maine?

In what way are Vermont Republicans reflective of Republican voters elsewhere?

[pinebox]

10. Well

Catch!

https://www.facebook.com/republicansforbernie?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/Republicans-for-Bernie-Sanders-2016-1577379105856357/timeline/

https://www.facebook.com/recoveringrepublican2012?fref=ts

You may find this very interesting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/35wpgr/my_story_as_a_republican_that_is_supporting/

My story as a Republican that is supporting Bernie Sanders for President

I am a long-time GOP supporter. During my teenage years, I witnessed Reagan, contrary to the narrative today, being a very pragmatic moderate Republican. After providing the economy with some Keynesian stimulus in the form of tax cuts, as the economy got back on its feet we saw him increase taxes to help reduce the deficit. He closed loopholes for the wealthy. He granted amnesty (something I oppose but it shows how he was willing to compromise.) He worked with Tip o'Neill to salvage social security. While I did not support Iran Contra, I proudly registered to become a Repbulican just in time for the upcoming election of 1988. I voted for H W Bush, and after being impressed with his pragmatism (I.E. raising taxes although they were unpopular) I voted for him again. During the Clinton Presidency, however, I began to notice a substantial shift to the right. They pushed legislation like DOMA and NAFTA which I could absolutely not support. However, they showed willingness to compromise with Clinton on major issues such as welfare reform and balancing the budget, so I was not yet ready to abandon the GOP, although I did vote for Perot in '96.
In 2000 I voted for W, noting the pragmatism of his father and his seemingly reasonable 'compassionate conservatism.' However, I quickly noticed things were a bit off. He began the war on terror and simultaneously cut taxes, even though wars are generally financed through tax hikes. He then expanded Medicare, and again he did not pay for it. I was upset with this, but I was also sucked into the whole "we need a strong leader to defeat terrorism" which I was convinced John Kerry was not, so I voted for him. Deficits kept rising, the wars were failing, and the WMD claims turned out not to be true. Then the economy collapsed thanks to deregulation, and I strongly regretted my decision to vote for him. In 2008, I refused to vote for McCain, because he seemed way too far right on foreign policy, abortion, and gay marriage (shouldn't small government supporters be pro choice,) but I also didn't vote for Obama as his rhetoric seemed extremely far left.
Of course, when Obama got into office, I quickly realized that he was actually, if anything, a moderate Republican. He passed the ACA (Heritagecare) bill, extended the Bush tax cuts (even for the wealthy at first!) and steered us out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. After the 2010 wave elections for the Tea Party, I was disgusted with how far right the Republican party had gone, and began noticing the blatant racism. I found republicansforobama.org, a group of people closely reflecting my views, and voted Obama in 2012 and Democrat in 2014. I lurked on reddit for a few months, reading r/politics regularly, and was amazed by Bernie Sander's policies. Everything he did was for the American worker, from protecting them from outsourcing and cheap foreign labor, to fixing the budget deficit by hiking taxes on the rich, to boosting the minimum wage. He'd be considered a centrist back in the 80s, which is why he has my vote.