African American
In reply to the discussion: Are movement politicians like Bernie tone deaf? [View all]Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)left, and the traditional liberal to center left base of the Party.
He is running a revolution and uses stark, revolutionary rhetoric of class-struggle that appeals to a lot of people but weakens the base of the party. Obama is one of the more liberal Presidents we have had, and has moved the country left, but revolutionary class-struggle rhetoric about the 1%/corporations/oligarchy has been used successfully to alienate a chunk of the Party.
Republicans, at this point, are incapable of uniting around a candidate, but the base of their party will focus on whoever wins the nomination. If it is a traditional Republican, they may loose some people on the far right, though I doubt they will loose many. Their campaign will raise the specter of fear of the left, Christian values, national defense, and gun rights that Republican constituents answer.
We will see what happens to the Democratic Party after this election. I remember the disaster after Kennedy and Carter campaigns that aided in the election of Reagan.