Some Democrats don’t like Bernie Sanders, and they’re not shy about expressing it. They think his negative campaigning cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election. They think his online supporters – the dreaded ‘Bernie Bros‘ – display misogyny, racism, and authoritarian tendencies. But the most common reason – especially as of late – is that they think he’s not electable. He can’t beat Trump, so the story goes, because he’s too divisive, his policies are ‘pie in the sky’ or ‘far left,’ he has skeletons in his closet, and/or he’s too old.
Whew! I’m setting aside the question of the merits of most of these charges. Some, e.g., the one about costing Clinton the 2016 election, we can dismiss as false and widely debunked. Others are more complicated. I’m also setting aside the question of whether Bernie can still win the nomination. Nor is this a post of evangelism. Instead what I’m doing here is addressing the ‘electable’ question. Is Bernie Sanders electable? And how can we tell?
