Why Voters Might "Respectfully Disagree" With Clinton's Declaration of Victory [View all]

Why Voters Might "Respectfully Disagree" With Clinton's Declaration of Victory
Meanwhile with Clinton trailing Trump nationally, polling group wonders: 'Are Democrats on track to nominate the wrong candidate?'
byDeirdre Fulton, staff writer * May 20, 2016 * Common Dreams

The Bernie Sanders campaign struck back at Hillary Clinton on Thursday for her statement that the Democratic presidential nominating process was "already done," pointing to not only the nine remaining contests, but also poll after poll showing Sanders outperforming Clinton in hypothetical match-ups against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Clinton told CNN on Thursday: "I will be the nominee for my party. That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won't be." But Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, in a strongly worded statement issued late Thursday afternoon, begged to differ.

"In the past three weeks voters in Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon respectfully disagreed with Secretary Clinton," Briggs said. "We expect voters in the remaining nine contests also will disagree. And with almost every national and state poll showing Sen. Sanders doing much, much better than Secretary Clinton against Donald Trump, it is clear that millions of Americans have growing doubts about the Clinton campaign."

A new Rasmussen poll published Friday finds Sanders ahead of Trump, 45-41 percent, but Trump ahead of Clinton, 42-37 percent. The polling group wonders: "Are Democrats on track to nominate the wrong candidate?"

Meanwhile, a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday evening showed Sanders ahead of Trump by 13 points, 51 to 38 percent—more than double Clinton's six-point lead over the New York real estate mogul.

The same poll found that 52 percent of Democratic primary voters would enthusiastically support Sanders if he were the nominee, compared to 44 percent who feel that way about Clinton.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/20/why-voters-might-respectfully-disagree-clintons-declaration-victory