2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: The "PoC don't support Bernie because they don't know him" claim is actually true [View all]thesquanderer
(11,989 posts)Last edited Tue Mar 1, 2016, 01:11 PM - Edit history (1)
See http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511149130 - "Sanders and Clinton are EQUAL in favorability among Blacks who are familiar with them"
The problem there for Bernie is that even if an AA voter ends up liking both candidates, s/he can only vote for one. Hillary has banked up an awful lot of good will. So it is likely to just become "I like Bernie, too." That's not enough to swing the vote.
And then there's a group that simply knows and likes Hillary, and are happy enough with their choice, that they just have no interest in looking at any other candidates.
You know, one argument I've made in support of Bernie is that it's impossible for the Republicans to do to him in three months what they've done to Hillary over 25 years, in terms of demonization. But as you kind of point out, there's a flip side to that same argument... it's impossible for Bernie to build the goodwill in the AA community that Hillary has built over decades. People can argue that Hillary's years of demonization are partially based on things that aren't true, and likewise, people sometimes argue that some of the accolades the AA community heaps upon her have a flawed basis as well, but it doesn't matter... either way, she is perceived the way she is perceived, both fairly and unfairly in both the positive and the negative, and that's the reality of the campaign she is in.