“For all of those Bernie Sanders voters who will be left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.” With these words, Donald Trump confirmed the view that many of those who support the Democratic senator from Vermont will vote for the magnate Trump in the presidential election in November.
Political scientists assure us that the similarities between Trump and Sanders are minimal when compared with their differences. Nevertheless, as the road to the White House continues, it seems that what unites them is much more notable than what separates them; specifically, the stroke of luck that the sentiment of “everyone against Hillary Clinton” has started to echo in some of the blocks that support Sanders.
In what way can those followers be on Trump’s side, and how much damage can they do to the presumptive Democratic candidate? Erin Fox, one supporter of Sanders, makes it clear that she will not give her support to Hillary Clinton. “I have been a Bernie supporter all this time, and I do not have the intention to vote for either of these candidates, neither Trump nor Clinton. I don’t think either of them has the capability to lead this country,” says Fox, who is the administrator of the Facebook group “Bernie Believers.”* “The country needs policies like those of Bernie Sanders; we have things to change to improve the well-being of this country. I won’t vote for anyone else,”* she emphasized. Erin Fox’s position is comparable to many Sanders followers who see Clinton as the representation of an unequal system that excludes the less fortunate.
On the other hand, Trump presents himself as a candidate against all that is known as “the establishment.” From this position he extends his hand to those who, disappointed by Sanders’ defeat in the primaries, do not want to vote for Hillary. Sanders made it very clear on Tuesday that he is not ready to align his stance with Trump. “We cannot allow Donald Trump to be president of the United States,” the senator said in his speech after a long primary season. But the boos from the public each time that Sanders said Clinton’s name cast doubt on the fact that his followers see Trump as the main enemy to beat.
For Edward Walker, a professor in the sociology department at the University of California at Los Angeles, saying that Sanders and Trump are similar doesn’t make enough sense. “Maybe they are responding to similar macroeconomic phenomena, channeling frustration due to the time of inequality in which we live. But on a fundamental level, they are completely different campaigns.”* Walker remembers how in 2008, many of Hillary Clinton’s supporters assured everyone that they would never vote for Barack Obama in the general election, but when the moment arrived, they gave him their vote. The same thing happens, in Walker’s opinion, with those in the Republican Party who assured us they would not support Trump, yet who are publicly starting to back him little by little. Erin Fox does not agree with the UCLA professor’s reasoning. “In the Facebook group, there are 50,000 people and I know many more outside [the group] who feel the same way I do. I know a large block of American voters, many of whom are Independents who are tired of traditional politics and have to choose ‘the best of the worst’ candidates.”*
*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, these quoted remarks could not be independently verified.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.