Sanders in 2016

[user12345]

If Sanders was somehow able to beat Hillary in a primary would he be able to win the election against a Republican? Vote.

[The Other Castro]

Only if Republicans nominate someone like Ted Cruz or Ben Carson.

[IceSpear]

Only if Republicans nominate someone like Ted Cruz or Ben Carson.

Bernie Sanders vs. Ted Cruz would be quite a spectacle.

I think it would take a very weak Republican, a good campaign, along with a good environment for Democrats in order for Sanders to win. And even then, his win would likely be very narrow.

[Mr. Morden]

As a sidenote, one of the earliest threads on this board is about whether Sanders will ever run for president:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=103446.0

[Suburbia]

Maybe, it depends what type of campaign he runs.

[Free Bird]

Nah. JINDAL could beat him

[daveosupremo]

Only if Republicans nominate someone like Ted Cruz or Ben Carson.

Please. Cruz and Carson would both beat Sanders easily.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Probably only vs. a very weak Republican ... I mean he'd beat Todd Aiken!

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

There's no way he could do well with rural whites


/snark

[BlueSwan]

Only in my dreams.

A self-confessed socialist can't win a US presidential election, period. A Sarah Palin/Glenn Beck winning ticket is probably more likely than *any* ticket with Sanders on top.

[Vega]

He'd have to get lucky. Like John Kasich getting Ed FitzGerald lucky.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

No.

On the subject of the Republicans nominating the likes of Todd Akin or Louie Gohmert, I think a centrist third party ticket would emerge, and attract voters from both major parties.

[Dixie Reborn]

There's no way he could do well with rural whites


/snark

He would perform much better among rural whites than Obama did.Many rural whites may actually agree with his message, but have been pushed out of the Democratic Party during the Obama age.

[Lambsbread]

Yeah, there's absolutely no way an openly avowed Socialist could win a national election in America unless he were to run against, say, Charles Manson.

[ElectionsGuy]

No, he would have to face someone like Ted Cruz, and then Ted Cruz would have to make huge gaffes and go off on the deep end in order for Bernie to win. There would probably also be a large third party vote (assuming he runs as a democrat).

[The Other Castro]

No, he would have to face someone like Ted Cruz, and then Ted Cruz would have to make huge gaffes and go off on the deep end in order for Bernie to win. There would probably also be a large third party vote (assuming he runs as a democrat).

It's pretty much a catch 22 for Sanders, the only Republican he could beat would be so extreme that the (guarenteed) third party that emerges would wipe the floor with both of them.

[SWE]

No, he would have to face someone like Ted Cruz, and then Ted Cruz would have to make huge gaffes and go off on the deep end in order for Bernie to win. There would probably also be a large third party vote (assuming he runs as a democrat).

It's pretty much a catch 22 for Sanders, the only Republican he could beat would be so extreme that the (guarenteed) third party that emerges would wipe the floor with both of them.

A third party candidate winning a presidential election really isn't possible

[Maxwell]

No, he would have to face someone like Ted Cruz, and then Ted Cruz would have to make huge gaffes and go off on the deep end in order for Bernie to win. There would probably also be a large third party vote (assuming he runs as a democrat).

It's pretty much a catch 22 for Sanders, the only Republican he could beat would be so extreme that the (guarenteed) third party that emerges would wipe the floor with both of them.

A third party candidate winning a presidential election really isn't possible

Only if the third party candidate has enough money, and Bloomberg is pretty much despicable.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think even if candidates are as "extreme" as Sanders or Cruz, they still are guaranteed a shot.

Ideology rarely matters in Presidential elections. Individual issues matter, as does a candidate's personality, image and likeability. But I think you guys are treating voters far too logically. People don't think "Candidate A is three steps to the idealogical left as me, whereas Candidate B is five steps to the right of me; I shall now vote for A." No voter is logical.

We also forget how polarised the country is. True, he's a "socialist". So what? Half the US is under the apprehension that Obama - it didn't prevent his re-election. 

(Anyone under the apprehension that Mayor Bloomberg would be remotely appealing to people outside urban areas is smoking something fishy).

Could Sanders win with the backing of the Democratic Party? Absolutely!

Could Cruz or Santorum win with the backing of the Republicans? Probably just as likely.

[Liberalrocks]

He would beat Sarah Palin ~!

[H. Ross Peron]

Only if Republicans nominate someone like Ted Cruz or Ben Carson.

Bernie Sanders vs. Ted Cruz would be quite a spectacle.

I think it would take a very weak Republican, a good campaign, along with a good environment for Democrats in order for Sanders to win. And even then, his win would likely be very narrow.

[Bull Moose Base]

I'll repeat what I said on the Rand Paul thread: Sanders is similar to Paul on every issue that supposedly gives Paul appeal outside of the GOP (foreign policy, civili liberties), so the race would come down to economic policy. On the role of government, America loves the word libertarian much more than the word socialist so Paul would poll well ahead. Until they eventually had a debate and America realized they didn't understand what those words meant, at which point Sanders would beat Paul easily.

[Mordecai]

If Sanders was somehow able to beat Hillary in a primary would he be able to win the election against a Republican? Vote.

Provided that he beat Hillary in the primary, it's definitely possible he could win the election if he faced the right kind of Republican (Ted Cruz or Mitt Romney).

But if he faced someone like Scott Walker or Chris Christie he would definitely lose.

I'll repeat what I said on the Rand Paul thread: Sanders is similar to Paul on every issue that supposedly gives Paul appeal outside of the GOP (foreign policy, civili liberties), so the race would come down to economic policy. On the role of government, America loves the word libertarian much more than the word socialist so Paul would poll well ahead. Until they eventually had a debate and America realized they didn't understand what those words meant, at which point Sanders would beat Paul easily.

The Israel/Palestine part of the foreign policy debate would be really entertaining.

[°Leprechaun]

I voted yes.
It would be interesting to see a Sanders vs Rand Paul election.
Not likely, of course, but who knows what will happen in 2020, 2024 and beyond.

[The Dowager Mod]

LOL, No.