How much damage did Bernie Sanders do to Hillary Clinton

[Da2017]

...

[uti2]

Not as much damage as Trump did to the other GOP candidates.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Considerable.

[Horus]

Not much, if any.

[Mr. Smith]

He saved her bacon if anything by forcing her to actually fight a bit and define her positions.

Just look what happened to Gore after getting pretty much no challenge at all!

[Del Tachi]

Probably at least 77,744 votes worth (which is enough to flip PA, WI and MI to Hillary).

[Mr. Morden]

Just look what happened to Gore after getting pretty much no challenge at all!

At the peak of Bradley's campaign, I think he had a better chance of winning the nomination than Sanders ever did.  Unfortunately for Bradly, that peak came about three months before Iowa, and his campaign collapsed into irrelevancy by the time the voting started.

In any case, Gore did have to sweat it out during that boom time for Bradley, and the CW of the time said that it made him a better candidate.....just not good enough, apparently.

[History505]

Just look what happened to Gore after getting pretty much no challenge at all!

At the peak of Bradley's campaign, I think he had a better chance of winning the nomination than Sanders ever did.  Unfortunately for Bradly, that peak came about three months before Iowa, and his campaign collapsed into irrelevancy by the time the voting started.

In any case, Gore did have to sweat it out during that boom time for Bradley, and the CW of the time said that it made him a better candidate.....just not good enough, apparently.

Would that be because Bradly would've attracted black voters more in his primary campaign compared to Sanders in 2016?

[Mr. Morden]

Just look what happened to Gore after getting pretty much no challenge at all!

At the peak of Bradley's campaign, I think he had a better chance of winning the nomination than Sanders ever did.  Unfortunately for Bradly, that peak came about three months before Iowa, and his campaign collapsed into irrelevancy by the time the voting started.

In any case, Gore did have to sweat it out during that boom time for Bradley, and the CW of the time said that it made him a better candidate.....just not good enough, apparently.

Would that be because Bradly would've attracted black voters more in his primary campaign compared to Sanders in 2016?

It's really more that Gore and Bradley weren't all that different, so virtually every demographic was in principle up for grabs.  Bradley was a bit farther left on the issues, and a bit more anti-establishment (even though he'd been very establishment when he was actually in the Senate), and he was more pro-"clean government" for want of a better term, following the years of Clinton scandals.  But the differences between them weren't so great that either really had anything like a solid base that wouldn't potentially leave them for the other guy.  And for that matter, the party establishment itself would have been fine ditching Gore for Bradley if that's the way the voters started to lean.

So when Bradley took the lead in New Hampshire polls and started creeping up in national polls, a Gore collapse looked like a possibility.  But Gore turned it around, and it was Bradley who collapsed in the end.

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

Probably at least 77,744 votes worth (which is enough to flip PA, WI and MI to Hillary).

Yeah, but what if those 77,744 votes were distributed across states like Oklahoma and West Virginia, where the extra votes wouldn't have made  a difference?

[Beet]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

[ProgressiveCanadian]

Here come the people b*tching about how Clinton should of never been challenged and that Bernie was the main reason she lost...delusional folks.

[Mr. Smith]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

These are true, and pretty much any kind of challenge would've brought out the conspiracies.

What's next? Gingrich destroyed Romney in 2012?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

When Tom Dewey lost in 1948, it was clearly the fault of Taft, the Russians, the FBI, and everyone in the universe but himself.

[AtorBoltox]

Didn’t a lower percentage of Bernie voters go for Trump than Hillary voters went for McCain in 08?

[AtorBoltox]

The idea that Bernie, who refused to make an issue of Hillary’s biggest weakness(emails) is somehow responsible for her loss is laughable

[Alabama_Indy10]

The idea that Bernie, who refused to make an issue of Hillary’s biggest weakness(emails) is somehow responsible for her loss is laughable

[Beet]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

These are true, and pretty much any kind of challenge would've brought out the conspiracies.

What's next? Gingrich destroyed Romney in 2012?

Actually, a lot of people did claim that Gingrich and the other primary conservatives who pushed Romney to the right kneecapped him in the General, yes.

[bagelman]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

These are true, and pretty much any kind of challenge would've brought out the conspiracies.

What's next? Gingrich destroyed Romney in 2012?

Actually, a lot of people did claim that Gingrich and the other primary conservatives who pushed Romney to the right kneecapped him in the General, yes.

Romney could've pivoted back in the GE though. Would Gingrich have come out and told Republicans not to vote Romney in October? Not unless he wants to be kicked out of the party or something.

[Mr. Smith]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

These are true, and pretty much any kind of challenge would've brought out the conspiracies.

What's next? Gingrich destroyed Romney in 2012?

Actually, a lot of people did claim that Gingrich and the other primary conservatives who pushed Romney to the right kneecapped him in the General, yes.

Romney could've pivoted back in the GE though. Would Gingrich have come out and told Republicans not to vote Romney in October? Not unless he wants to be kicked out of the party or something.

He did, and it came off just pandering as fake as ever.

[TPIG]

I'm absolutely not a fan of Bernie Sanders, but the campaign he ran against Hillary was principled and not one of mudslinging or over-the-top rhetoric. He did a lot of damage to Hillary Clinton in that he brought a spotlight to things about her that progressives would find unacceptable. The problem lied in Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Quite a lot. His presence in the race fed so many conspiracy theories that activated certain groups to go hard against Clinton. The irony is that when it first became apparent he was running, his supporters claimed that he was only in the race to "push Clinton the left" and make her a "better candidate."

These are true, and pretty much any kind of challenge would've brought out the conspiracies.

What's next? Gingrich destroyed Romney in 2012?

Actually, a lot of people did claim that Gingrich and the other primary conservatives who pushed Romney to the right kneecapped him in the General, yes.

This wasn't 1994 Mitt Romney. This was 2012 Mitt Romney. He wasn't very moderate at all. He was easily the most anti-immigrant candidate.

[Rookie Yinzer]

I'm absolutely not a fan of Bernie Sanders, but the campaign he ran against Hillary was principled and not one of mudslinging or over-the-top rhetoric. He did a lot of damage to Hillary Clinton in that he brought a spotlight to things about her that progressives would find unacceptable. The problem lied in Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders.

I mean...basically. Some of it was unfounded and some of it she would gotten leeway if she were a man. It goes to show that if you are a non-white male you have to be absolutely perfect before running. I'm not saying "she lost because middle America is sexist", but you can't be a "minority" candidate and have flawed character at the same time, whether it be percieved or factual.

[Mr. Morden]

I agree that Sanders didn’t do much mudslinging, but I would make a distinction between how nasty a candidate is in attacking his opponent vs. how damaging the attacks are.  You can be respectful in your criticism of your opponent, and yet those attacks can be pretty devastating with voters.  And I don’t think that they would have necessarily had the same impact if they’d come from an opponent who was not in the mold of Bernie Sanders.  I think Jonathan Chait was basically correct here:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/09/why-cant-america-see-that-clinton-is-flawed-but-normal.html

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I’m also not sure that this is something peculiar to Clinton, or intrinsic to her across all space and time.  I think it’s possible that pretty much any so-called “establishment” Democrat in her position would have been damaged this way, if challenged by a Sanders-esque insurgent candidate.  At least in 2016.  Not sure it would have had the same impact in an earlier year, when the electorate was different, and perhaps not as amenable to a Sanders-esque message.

[darklordoftech]

Not any more damage than Obama did to her 8 years earlier.