2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy Most Black Voters Still Aren’t Feeling Bernie Sanders
Let many a progressive pundit and New Hampshire poll tell it, and Bernie Sanders is catching fire. Raking in a cool $2 million postdebate, the Vermont senator is the hottest thing since his one-hit-wonder state compatriot, the former Gov. Howard Dean, in 2004. Look at other polls and hes either catching up or neck and neck with Democratic-primary front-runner Hillary Clinton.
But notice, thats mostly Granite State hype, a place whose population is barely 1.5 percent black. The liberal bonfire fades into crackling embers once you throw a cold bucket of black votes on it. Thats one big reason a Washington Post-ABC News poll dropped today shows him stalled right where he was last month. Even after reversing himself on the significance of #BlackLivesMatter, the curmudgeon personification of progressive causes sweats uncomfortably once the Democratic primary puts virtually all-white Iowa and New Hampshire in its rearview and heads south for states electorally dominated by African Americans.
Its the thing thats stumping Sanders strategists and perhaps keeping the senator up at night: The black people just arent that into me. Its not as if hes not saying all the right things: Taking battering rams to institutional racism. Calling voter-ID pushers cowards. Poking big regulatory pitchforks at the Man on Wall Street. Freeing the underserved from incarceration. Hes even got a few prominent black thought leaders, like Karen Hunter, feeling the Bern.
Still, theres something in the way hes doing it thats not clicking with most African-American voters. This isnt an argument against Sanders. Its genuine fascination with his dilemma, because no candidate can win the Democratic nomination without the black vote. Despite memorable debate lines and cover for an email-embattled Clinton, Sanders didnt really budge all that much with black voters. Here are three main reasons thats the case ... and why it probably stays that way:
Read more:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/10/bernie_sanders_why_black_voters_still_aren_t_feeling_him.html
SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)mcar
(42,372 posts)Very good analysis. Thanks.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Apparently, this is one of a few tactical reasons behind Team Sanders frantic embrace of BLM. Its also recognition that maybe the optics of too many aggressive white millennials public bashing of disagreeable black activists is not the best look once you hit heavily black Democratic stronghold states like South Carolina and Georgia. The current logic follows that with black activists now talking torather than crashing throughthe Sanders campaign, black millennials should be just as ginned up about Sanders as white millennials, a notion fueled by a general perception that all black voters must be down with the cause.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)its all about LISTENING.
A concept many of his supporters have failed to grasp.
It's evident right here on DU.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)That no thoughtful people would ever vote for Hillary. Only tools of the man/power structure/oligarchy.
I think that that really offends people for some reason
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)according to some on DU, blacks who support Hillary are apparently suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)I'm sure that kind of thinking really draws in the undecided to Bernies side.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)that Clinton has. And then there's the constant stream of lies and various idiotic narratives about his record and views on race. The article in the OP is an example, claiming that he somehow reversed himself on the significance of #blacklivesmatter, and then adding an imaginary quote: "The black people just aren't that into me."
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)And unlike the racist meme still being played by the HRC campaign, this one is straight from the heart. She just isn't my type.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Because it is wrong.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)That's the point.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)LOL.
zappaman
(20,606 posts)Hate to break the news to you, but Cornell West supports him.
So there.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Put it back up your sleeves, please. It makes DU suck.
romanic
(2,841 posts)You still won't convince me or any other minority Sanders supporter that he's some big bad ol'racist.