You can be flippant about the nature of first past the post voting systems if you like but it’s not a useful contribution to the discussion. If you want to be POTUS you run as an R or a D and Bernie is not an R. That does not mean there are not R voters who like his policies.
It is surprising how many people don’t realise the spoiler effect inherent in first-past-the-post makes running as an independent an bad idea: you are more likely to split the vote with a candidate who agrees with some of your points, causing both of you to lose, than being able to bring change.
I know this is true. Bernie was one of the few I saw as possibly bridging the gap. I knew multiple people who were Republicans that said they would vote Bernie because he was a man of conviction. I think Bernie would have pulled a lot of Republicans in 2016 because of the climate. So many rural people voted Trump in protest of the establishment more than a love of DJT back then. 2020 was a different story, so was 2024. 2016 I think he would have had a real shot to take from both sides with how little enthusiasm Hillary and Trump had. Bernie’s rallies dwarfed either of them. He had so much momentum. But this will always be a what if…
Fair, though I don’t think rallies are a good indicator for enthusiasm in the general voting public. If you have access to polls you may be able to judge things somewhat better (even if polls have their own problems). I like to believe that a politician like Bernie is smart enough to have at least given the option a thought, and figured that running would guarantee a DJT win.
With hindsight, it may be easy to say that it would have been worth a try anyway (given who won in the end…).
Even so, even if he won, it would not be easy to be a president without backing in the US. The only reason DJT is not in prison is support from the other branches of the US government.
Then Bernie should have run for the Republican nomination. He tried running for the Democrat nomination twice, and he lost twice.
You can be flippant about the nature of first past the post voting systems if you like but it’s not a useful contribution to the discussion. If you want to be POTUS you run as an R or a D and Bernie is not an R. That does not mean there are not R voters who like his policies.
Did you miss the part where I said he ran for the Democrat nomination, twice?
I never said otherwise, but how does that help him win a presidential election?
My whole point is that Bernie could not win a presidential election in the US. How has anything you’ve said disproven that?
He’s not a D either, he’s an SD
Which is much closer to D than R
Yes
The DNC rigged it against him. He should have ran independent. The DNC is corrupt af.
Yep.
Nope. Wouldn’t have worked.
Yep.
It is surprising how many people don’t realise the spoiler effect inherent in first-past-the-post makes running as an independent an bad idea: you are more likely to split the vote with a candidate who agrees with some of your points, causing both of you to lose, than being able to bring change.
I know this is true. Bernie was one of the few I saw as possibly bridging the gap. I knew multiple people who were Republicans that said they would vote Bernie because he was a man of conviction. I think Bernie would have pulled a lot of Republicans in 2016 because of the climate. So many rural people voted Trump in protest of the establishment more than a love of DJT back then. 2020 was a different story, so was 2024. 2016 I think he would have had a real shot to take from both sides with how little enthusiasm Hillary and Trump had. Bernie’s rallies dwarfed either of them. He had so much momentum. But this will always be a what if…
Fair, though I don’t think rallies are a good indicator for enthusiasm in the general voting public. If you have access to polls you may be able to judge things somewhat better (even if polls have their own problems). I like to believe that a politician like Bernie is smart enough to have at least given the option a thought, and figured that running would guarantee a DJT win.
With hindsight, it may be easy to say that it would have been worth a try anyway (given who won in the end…).
Even so, even if he won, it would not be easy to be a president without backing in the US. The only reason DJT is not in prison is support from the other branches of the US government.
I mean, he probably would have encountered less resistance from party leadership.