In recent weeks, all focus has been placed squarely on various polls which show Senator Bernie Sanders lagging far behind the lead of the establishment candidate Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. While these poll numbers are significant and worthy of attention, there is another polling number that has largely been ignored.
When it comes to independent voters, those who are undecided overwhelmingly are ‘feeling the Bern’. Among independent voters who make up 43 percent of the electorate, Bernie holds a staggering 36 percent lead over Mrs. Clinton, a significant number when you consider that the Democratic party only holds 30 percent of the electorate.
These numbers, combined with a few other key Sanders facts and figures (Sanders does just as good or better as Hillary when going head to head against GOP candidates and voters also feel that Sanders is vastly more trustworthy than his counterpart) indicate that not choosing Sanders as the Democratic nominee would be a dangerous gamble.
Those valuable independent voters who favor Sanders may be turned off the by business-as-usual reputation Hillary has garnered, and may opt to go with the Republican nominee. Can we really afford to take that chance?
While hosts of Hillary devotees groan and moan that Hillary is the only “realistic” candidate, polls like this show that her nomination is not so guaranteed, and that her presidency is even less so.
