Sanders to run as a Democrat -- but not accept nomination (2018 Senate)

[Jim Lane]

385. It's hard to assess the NET impact in 2016.

I agree with you that there were some voters who held it against Bernie. (My guess, however, is that the vast majority of those who commented on party identification were actually people who opposed Bernie for other reasons, then seized on that as an argument or justification. Most of the Hillary voters would have voted for Hillary against even a lifelong Democrat.)

The flip side is that, for other voters, Bernie's status was a plus. It added to his credibility as someone who was not a run-of-the-mill politician, which helped him with the voters who were tired of business as usual. Of course, most of them, also, would have voted the same way, i.e., favoring a lifelong Democrat who was a little-known democratic socialist running against a more establishment candidate.