Bernie Sanders Might Have a Michigan Problem

[RandySF]

Michigan will also be the first state in the industrial Midwest to vote; it is possible that the trends evident elsewhere won’t materialize there.

But Mr. Sanders has so far failed to match his 2016 strength across the white, working-class North this year, and that suggests it will be hard for him to win Michigan.

This pattern has held without exception this primary season. It was true in Iowa and New Hampshire against Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. It was true in Maine, Minnesota, Massachusetts and even Vermont on Super Tuesday against Mr. Biden.

Over all, Mr. Biden defeated Mr. Sanders by 10 points, 38 percent to 28 percent, in counties across Maine, Minnesota and Massachusetts where white voters made up at least 80 percent of the electorate and where college graduates represented less than 40 percent of the electorate. According to the exit polls, Mr. Biden was tied or ahead among white voters in every state east of the Mississippi River on Super Tuesday.

This is a marked departure from 2016. Back then, Mr. Sanders tended to excel among white, working-class and rural voters across the North. This made Michigan, where white voters represent a well-above-average share of the Democratic electorate, one of his stronger states. He dominated in Michigan’s small towns and rural areas, losing only in few counties that tended to have older voters.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/upshot/bernie-sanders-michigan-problem.html

[Ouimette]

1. Name recognition can be a double edged sword

I'm this case the more people know Bernie, the less they like him.

[padah513]

2. Makes you wonder

If they were voting for Mr. Sanders in 2016 or voting against Mrs. Clinton.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Good point

Whatever the answer, Biden ‘20 is definitely proving a steeper challenge than HRC ‘16 for Bernie. The reality of Trump is a big part of that IMO.

[empedocles]

3. 'Those voters', may be getting tired of angry, bellicose, ineffective pols, - trump and BS