And on April 8th 2020 Trump was reelected.
The viability of Sanders' campaign is a serious question and is why he wasn't nominated. If there had been resounding support for him as a candidate, he would have been nominated...
I understand that his campaign and supporters will make some argument about how it's the DNC holding him down, or some conspiracy, or whatever, but the reality is that he isn't/wasn't/won't be viable in a general election against Trump.
Socialism, or whatever Bernie wants to sell himself as does not sell to the broader electorate that is going to have to be captured in November.
On the other hand, there are people who think that Sanders was too extreme to be elected, and those people may well be right.
TL;DR: I don't know. I'm not sure either Biden or Sanders could beat Trump.
For that reason, I think Biden should really pick a VP with populist bona fides, or at least someone who's willing to imagine something beyond a slightly tweaked status quo.
I also think Bernie's approach to healthcare during the times we are in now would hold a lot of favor.
I think Biden is either senile now or turning senile quickly (based on observing him speaking publicly the last 4 months) and won't fair well in debates or campaigning as a result. He's doddering, did not do much as VP, and doesn't have a history of strong stances that he can hold up and swing voters or independents.
I'm not for or against any of the candidates and this is obviously opinion but I think Trump just won re-election.
I don't think you'll see that with Biden. Sanders' campaign would quickly fall apart under the weight of those attacks.
Also, I'm tired of hearing this senile line. It's a form of ageism. He's never been a talented public speaker, specifically when he's not feeding off the energy of a crowd. Just go back and look at his old speeches.
If you are looking for a young, vibrant candidate, neither Sanders or Biden is your ticket, anyway. Sanders is older than Biden.
I think both Biden and Sanders would have had a hard time campaigning for the reasons you listed. I believe Sanders would have stood a better chance again because of the populist vs populist approach. I believe Sanders supporters are as vocal as Trump supporters and you dont have that with Biden supporters at all.
You can't lobby much against Biden because he doesnt stand for much (again obviously opinion, and Im not trying to start a fight or argument) as compared to Sanders. They have vastly different goals in mind for a presidency.
If the populists didn't turn out enough to give Sanders the primaries, they're not going to turn out enough to give him the general election.
> "I also think Bernie's approach to healthcare during the times we are in now would hold a lot of favor."
I think that, outside of his own base, it was pretty clear to voters that Sanders was making promises that he'd never be able to get past Congress. They likely wouldn't have voted for Sanders in the general election. Not that I particularly like him but Biden is making far more realistic promises and has a better shot at unseating Trump IMO.
I think that is an assumption because when you are down to 2 candidates only things change, all the Biden supporters (and others that already dropped) probably wont stay home and not vote. But who knows?
>I think that, outside of his own base, it was pretty clear to voters that Sanders was making promises that he'd never be able to get past Congress. They likely wouldn't have voted for Sanders in the general election
If the Senate goes blue after this election who knows. He was making large promises (they all do, where is our wall that Mexico is paying for as an example), but I think overall people now realize affordable healthcare is a bigger deal than people realize. I am curious what will happen if medical bills for COVID start getting mailed out prior to election day. 40k for treatment will break a lot of individuals and family's.
I'm not on one side of the fence or the other. I think they all have good and bad things about them and think none of the candidates are good for the country in the long run. My original post was merely to say I do not believe Biden beats Trump.
I didn't vote for Trump last time (Johnson got my vote), but I do like some of his populist actions. I'm likely to vote for Trump this time.
Oddly, I also liked some of what Sanders said last time. (I think the populist thing.) But I lost a great amount of respect for Sanders when he knuckled under to Hillary Clinton after she hosed him out of the nomination. (The changed debate schedule, the emailed debate questions, etc.) I really hoped Bernie would stick to his principles, but he caved in and endorsed her. I wasn't as excited about Bernie this time around.