If Bernie Sanders Had The Same Lead That Biden Now Holds,

[MineralMan]

along with the same polling in future primaries, I would be calling for Biden to step out of the race and endorse Senator Sanders.

I'm not a supporter of individual candidates as much as I am a supporter of candidates who can win a General Election.

Vote counts matter. A candidate who cannot win the primary race will not win in the General Election. It's that simple. We need a winning candidate as our nominee. That's Joe Biden in 2020.

That's why I'm calling for Bernie Sanders to withdraw and endorse Joe Biden. No other reason.

[mcar]

1. As would Bernie

[Demsrule86]

2. I would too.

[liberal N proud]

3. Can you imagine the BS supporters

And their calls would be for Biden to quit

[MineralMan]

4. Yes, of course.

Tit for Tat.

[Codeine]

7. They touted him as inevitable for having

won three states. Imagine if he were actually winning?

[treestar]

32. A few did when he won the first 3 states.

[marble falls]

5. You're absolutey right. During the primary debates it seems some of we Democrats forgot ...

this is about beating Trump not each other.

[MineralMan]

6. Exactly. Thanks!

[NoMoreRepugs]

8. Am I wrong or have most of the Sanders supporters here

gone dark? Or were “they” ever real??

[marble falls]

10. A big portion of them have come over to Biden, too. We need to heal some rifts here, not ...

keep poking them with a stick.

[TheFarseer]

28. Personally, I've given it up as a lost cause

Nothing to do but get after it and get Joe elected now.

[oldsoftie]

9. I'm past the point of caring about Sanders anymore. The whole world knows its over.

One day he'll wake up and realize it too.
Its not like the campaign is still going on

[world wide wally]

11. Sadly, the only impact Bernie can have now is to hurt Biden the same way he hurt Hillary...

By his constant criticism and appealing to his supporters in spite of the fact that he is dead in the water as far as winning the nomination goes.
Man up, Bernie.

[MineralMan]

12. And that is a very serious concern. It should concern all of us.

The sooner Sanders withdraws and enthusiastically endorses Biden, the better our chances will be.

[thesquanderer]

13. re:"A candidate who cannot win the primary race will not win in the General...it's that simple"

I'm not sure what you're saying there.

If you're saying that someone who cannot win the primary cannot win the general, well of course, if someone does not win the nomination, they will never even have the *opportunity* to win the general, so that much is self-evident.

If you're saying that a candidate who cannot win the primary would be incapable of winning the general if he were the nominee, well there's no reason to believe that. For example, Sanders could not beat Hillary in the primaries, but polls at this point in 2016 showed overwhelmingly that he was stronger against Trump than Hillary was. Not being able to beat candidate X in your own party says absolutely nothing about how well you would do against some other candidate from another party, it's two different and unrelated scenarios.

Though either way, I agree, I think Sanders should drop out and endorse Biden.

[MineralMan]

15. Polls are not elections, and Hillary Clinton did Beat Trump

in the popular vote.

[thesquanderer]

18. Point remains, ability to beat candidate X in your own party says *nothing* about...

...someone's ability to beat candidate Y in the other party.

To the other point, since not every election circumstance comes to pass in the real world, polls are our best indication of what would likely happen. And while a single poll with close results gives you very limited ability to extrapolate to what would actually happen, a series of dozens of polls with very large spreads does give you a great likelihood of a proper forecast. Though of course, things also could change a lot over 6 months.

As for popular vote, of course, it came down to a few states. Take a look at RCP history. March through June of 2016:

Michigan:
Sanders over Trump by 19 to 22 points.
Clinton over Trump by 4 to 16 points.

Wisconsin:
Sanders over Trump by 9 to 24 points.
Clinton over Trump by 5 to 14 points.

Pennsylvania:
Sanders over Trump by 6 to 20 points.
Clinton over Trump by 0 to 15 points.

So for example, at this point in 2016, Sanders could not beat Hillary in PA... but if the general had been held at that point, Sanders would have been the stronger candidate against Trump. It's two different races, with different voters voting, and with different pros and cons between the two opponents. There's just no natural correlation between being able to beat a given primary opponent with a particular set of voters, and being able to beat a given general election opponent with a different set of voters. None.

I do believe that Biden has a slightly better chance against Trump than Sanders would have... but not because Bidemn is beating Sanders, which I find irrelevant, but rather because polls show Biden as having slightly better numbers.

[delisen]

19. Possibilities in present do not equal reality in future

[MineralMan]

21. Exactly.

[thesquanderer]

23. Of course. Like I said, "things also could change a lot over 6 months."

All you can do is consider the best info at hand at any given time.

Though also logically, there's no reason to believe that the candidate who does the best job at beating members of his/her own party is necessarily going to be the best candidate to put up against the leading candidate of the OTHER party, especially when it's even a different pool of voters.

Put differently, Trump was the Republican candidate who was best able to beat the other Republican candidates in 2016, so he was the nominee. I doubt too many people think Hillary would have been more successful if only she could have faced Jeb Bush or John Kasich. I think most probably feel they would have been even tougher candidates for the general. But the best candidate for you to put up against the other party's candidate in the general is, again, not always going to be the one who does best in your primaries.

[MustLoveBeagles]

14. I think he should do this as well

Whether he will or not is another story. I don't see a path for him going forward. The time has come for him to drop out. I supported him four years ago, but when it became clear that Hillary was the one with the path to the nomination I switched my support to Hillary and voted for her in the general. I did this with no animosity and a lot of enthusiasm as I'm sure most of his supporters did. I still like Bernie and his message. I don't like his advisors or his extreme supporters, which are a very small, but loud and obnoxious minority. This Biden supporter is extending a hand, not to poke in the eye or slap in the face, but out of friendship and camaraderie. We're all in this together.

[Bengus81]

16. If my trash guy had the lead I'd ask for the other to step aside....

To me it's not about who's who,it's about getting OUR candidate to focus solely on beating Trumps ASS and not messing around with Primaries that aren't going to happen anyway.

Because of Bernie we're squandering precious time............

[Dopers_Greed]

17. Sanders supporters were already calling for him to be declared the winner

When only 2 states had voted, and he wasn't even leading in delegates

[Cha]

26. I remember.

[IronLionZion]

20. This is war footing now, we need a stable experienced leader to get us through the crisis

One who actually listens and defers to qualified experts and can get legislation passed through congress while inspiring and calming down the fears of the American people.

We all have to do our part. Bernie can support some good healthcare funding bills in the Senate to make sure no one gets left behind who needs help.

[R B Garr]

22. KnR. Bernie is looking like a reality TV star, since he just wants to keep the cameras

rolling at this point. The voters have spoken. His show is over.

[MineralMan]

24. That is a very selfish and destructive strategy.

[Cha]

25. Hell.. all of Sanders surrogates, supporters & Sanders would be calling for

Biden to drop out.

[booley]

27. I haven't been convinced Biden can win

Sorry but history shows just winning in the bubble that is a primary doesn't mean they will win in the general.

In any case there are very good reasons why Sanders should stay in until the end.

Such as the fact that while Biden has been sitting in his house for the last week, Sanders turned his campaign infrastructure to raise money for COVID 19 and provide an alternative to Trump's messaging.

If Biden is really as strong a candidate as many here claim, it won't matter if Sanders stays in until the convention. Biden is not owed the nomination.

[MineralMan]

29. Perhaps you won't be convinced of that until

November. But do, please,vote for him.

Thanks.

[ucrdem]

30. My view is, Biden would have congratulated Bernie on Super Tuesday and rolled it up

at 8:01 pm. Neither Biden nor any other Dem would have waited this long if the roles were reversed. Only Bernie.

[Happy Hoosier]

31. Me too. In fact, before SC

I said in Sanders dominated Super T, the party should solidify behind him.