So...I'm Thinking About Next U.S. Presidential Election

[Imran Siddiqui]

To be honest, I think Sanders's campaign may actually help Hillary. Sanders isn't winning the primary (in addition to how extreme on the left he is, he won't be able to raise the money), but for folks in the general election it'll make Hillary Clinton look more moderate - like how folks like Santorum made Romney look more moderate.

[DinoDoc]

To be honest, I think Sanders's campaign may actually help Hillary. Sanders isn't winning the primary (in addition to how extreme on the left he is, he won't be able to raise the money), but for folks in the general election it'll make Hillary Clinton look more moderate - like how folks like Santorum made Romney look more moderate.

Romney needed help to appear moderate?

[Aeson]

Demonstrably he needed more help than he got.

[giblets]

Romney needed help seeming relatable to the average person and not viewing 47% of the country as worthless scum.

[regexcellent]

r/politics has a raging boner for Sanders.

r/politics seems to prefer candidates in inverse proportion to their probability of being elected.

To be honest, I think Sanders's campaign may actually help Hillary. Sanders isn't winning the primary (in addition to how extreme on the left he is, he won't be able to raise the money), but for folks in the general election it'll make Hillary Clinton look more moderate - like how folks like Santorum made Romney look more moderate.

On the other hand it will force her to spend some actual amount of her vast campaign fund.

[Imran Siddiqui]

No more than she otherwise would. I mean someone was going to throw their hat in the ring.

[regexcellent]

Well, I don't think Bernie Sanders is actually going to force her to change any positions. And he occupies a niche that someone more capable of winning the primary might otherwise seek to enter. In that sense I suppose he's doing her a favor.

[kentonio]

It's going to be fascinating watching him reaching a wider audience. Cue lots of people finding themselves going "Well I agree with everything you've said pretty much, but you know.. you're a socialist".

[Imran Siddiqui]

He's actually a bit more left than most voting people, to be honest. So I don't see that happening too much.

[Imran Siddiqui]

See here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/upshot/the-problem-for-bernie-sanders-the-narrow-lane-to-hillary-clintons-left.html?abt=0002&abg=1

The majority of Democrats and Democratic primary voters are self-described moderates or even conservatives, according to an Upshot analysis of Pew survey data from 2014 and exit polls from the 2008 Democratic primary.

Some of these self-described moderates hold fairly liberal views. But the “mostly liberal” Democrats barely outnumber Democrats with “mixed” or conservative policy views, according to the Pew data, which classified respondents based on how consistently they agreed with Democratic policy positions. Only about a quarter of Democratic-leaners hold the consistently liberal views that would potentially put them to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

[jsorense]

Then let's hear it for the 25%.

[kentonio]

The majority of Democrats and Democratic primary voters are self-described moderates or even conservatives, according to an Upshot analysis of Pew survey data from 2014 and exit polls from the 2008 Democratic primary.

[giblets]

Good point. If someone self-identifies as a conservative, that doesn't necessarily mean they hold conservative views.

[C0ckney]

[kentonio]