Many Bernie Sanders backers have no interest in conceding to Hillary Clinton
WASHINGTON — To understand Bernie Sanders’ unwillingness to concede the Democratic presidential nomination race to Hillary Clinton, take a look at some of the Twitter hashtags used by his supporters:
#StillSanders
#BernieOrBust
#SeeYouInPhilly
Clinton has effectively locked up the nomination, but Sanders continues to say he’ll take his fight to transform the Democratic Party — and the country — all the way to the party's national convention in Philadelphia in July. His supporters, it seems, will accept nothing less.
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“We will never stand down,” tweeted “Women for Bernie” on Sunday. “It’s not over.”
Some polls in recent months show anywhere from about 25% to 50% of Sanders backers weren’t ready to support Clinton either as the nominee or in a matchup with the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, said more Sanders voters likely will shift to Clinton as a “thaw” between the two candidates takes hold. That process will be guided partly by the signals Sanders sends to his supporters, he said.
“He has continually said that the worst thing would be for Trump to win,” Miringoff said. “Given that he understands the math, that sort of means that he has to support Hillary Clinton.”
Sanders will speak Thursday night to grass-roots supporters in a live, online video message from his home town of Burlington, Vt., about continuing his “political revolution.” That follows his meeting with Clinton on Tuesday night, hours after Clinton won the District of Columbia's primary, the final nominating contest of the 2016 presidential primary season. The two discussed shared priorities, such as raising the minimum wage, affordable college and campaign finance reform.
The campaigns issued separate statements giving similar descriptions of the meeting. But the statement from Sanders' campaign did not say he and Clinton talked about party unity, while the Clinton campaign’s statement did.
Sanders, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on June 5, dismissed the idea that he could snap his fingers and have “millions of supporters kind of march the line.”
“That is not what our effort is about,” he said, responding to a question about #BernieOrBust voters who say they’ll leave the party if he's not the nominee. “It is Secretary Clinton’s job to explain to those people why she should ... get their support. And that means she’s going to have to address their needs.”
At Sanders’ final rally in Washington on Thursday, supporters chanted “Thank you, Bernie,” and some called for him to stay in the race.
“The only way Clinton will be able to attract former Sanders supporters is by adopting some of Sanders’ policies,” said Matt Orfalea, 30, a District resident who makes YouTube videos and walks dogs. He said he could support Clinton — if she adopts Sanders’ ideas for expanding Social Security, breaking up big banks and raising the minimum wage to $15. An endorsement by Sanders wouldn't necessarily make much difference.
“He obviously has a lot of influence, but ultimately Sanders supporters – they’re about issues and policy, not just personality,” Orfalea said.
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Joseph Hunt, 23, a community college student from Ellicott City, Md., said, "There's really no other candidate out there who's telling the truth."
Clinton has suggested she isn’t worried about winning over Sanders’ supporters. She’s noted that polls taken during the 2008 Democratic nomination race showed that about 40% of her supporters said they wouldn't support then-senator Barack Obama. Clinton conceded the nomination race days after the final primaries and asked her supporters to unite behind Obama.
But Sanders may need to move at a slower pace, Miringoff said. Democrats were Clinton’s core supporters in 2008. Boarding the “Clinton train” this year, he said, is a bigger step for the independents and young people who are a key part of Sanders’ coalition.
Sanders needs to tell his supporters he fought until the bitter end, Miringoff said. And he apparently is determined to do that anyway, so he can influence the party platform and call for electoral reforms.
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“I would think his people would be very unhappy if he capitulated right away,” Miringoff said. “They want him to fight for the same issues he’s been talking about and take that to the convention.”
