2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: When I'm Mobile [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)long and unusual background and opinions, that they would warm to him. Many would not.
The GOP would turn him into Fidel Junior (and not in a good way, either) which would turn off a huge percentage (or should I say a Yuuuuuuuuge percentage) of the population.
He's an unknown quantity. I think the more people get to know him, the more problems they find with his POV, attitudes, and stances. The gun thing alone--with another school shooting that barely made a blip yesterday--is problematic amongst Democrats, for example. It is odd that a guy who has spent a quarter century on the Hill (much longer than Clinton did) has so few super delegates in his corner. Why aren't his own peers backing him up?
That said, I don't think it'll be an issue for much longer, but time will tell.
As for the "Republican machine," most reports I've seen from them prefer Sanders--the weaker candidate, in their view--as the standard bearer.
http://atr.rollcall.com/gop-will-use-bernie-sanders-democrats/