Bernie Fills Another Stadium (From OccupyWallSt.org)
SYNOPSIS: Bernie can win. If the incredible Sanders Surge continues, or Hillary falls in relative popularity due to scandals or other reasons, Bernie could easily win the Primary. And if that happens, there is at least one major match-up (Sanders Vs. Trump) in which Bernie will very likely win. So, those saying "Bernie Can't Win" have already been PROVEN wrong. He CAN win. And THAT is the point of this article.
Public Relations firms, salespeople, marketers, and other expert manipulators know countless ways of persuading people to vote a certain way. One trick is to boldly state what they want you to think, and just pretend what they're saying is Obvious To All, while giving zero evidence to back it up. If the rest of the advertisement / article SOUNDS reasonable, even without any real substance, studies show that you'll be persuaded – at least a little bit.
Then they'll repeat this statement, over and over, through as many for-profit news sources & ads as possible. If you hear it dozens of times, from numerous sources, studies show you'll be persuaded to a LARGE degree.
This is what a number of manipulative sources are trying to do to those considering voting for Bernie Sanders. For example, they'll tell you “Bernie Can't Win” – and then, not even bother to supply any facts or logic to support their opinion.
Notice that the Burden Of Proof is on them, too, when they make such a statement. So why believe them? If someone tells you something that makes no sense, and supplies no reasoning or facts to back up what they say, it stands to reason that you should be persuaded to do the OPPOSITE of whatever they're trying to get you to do.
This is a sleazy way of persuading people, and you shouldn't stand for it. If you see an advertisement against Bernie, disguised as news reporting, write them and tell them they've persuaded you to do the opposite of what they're trying to get you to do, that you find their behavior offensive and manipulative, and that you'll be boycotting them and their supporters for life. I assure you, THAT will get their attention, and persuade THEM to change their ways.
NOW, HOW BERNIE CAN WIN: THE FACTS, THE LATEST POLLS, & THE ANALYSIS:
First of all, Bernie might win the democratic primary, as he's second only to Hillary, AND SURGING RAPIDLY in the polls. Then: Trump has an excellent chance of winning the Republican Primary, as he's BY FAR the front runner at the moment; and if he just continues his own surge among the currently extremist, out-of-touch GOP, there's no reason he won't stay front runner.
So, it could easily be Sanders Vs. Trump for the Presidency: Just as long as Trump maintains his large lead among GOP voters, and the Sanders Surge keeps momentum for just 2-3 more months, this is perhaps the most likely scenario of all.
If this scenario comes to fruition, as it seems it probably will, there are MULTIPLE reasons why Bernie will most likely win the Presidency:
1. Trump's well-established and incredibly sexist views. Because of this, Trump is far, far behind Bernie when it comes to female voters, who form about 53% of likely voters – AND who normally vote for democratic candidates, anyways.
→ All The Sexist Things Trump Has Said: http://www.independent.co.uk/...
→ 18 Real Things Trump Has Said About Women: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
→ “Women have been voting in larger numbers than men for almost three decades, exit polls show” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
2. Bernie is far ahead of Trump when it comes to the Youth Vote, which has been THE decisive voting bloc for the last two presidential elections (and who usually vote overwhelmingly Democratic, too) -- just as the LACK of turnout by the Youth Vote in non-presidential elections helps Republicans, it should be noted.
→ Election 2012: Study: Youth Vote Was Decisive http://www.politico.com/...
→ Youth Vote Will Sway 2016 Election http://ringoffireradio.com/...
→ Youth Vote Overwhelmingly Democratic, AND Increasing In Size: http://www.civicyouth.org/...
3. Trump has deeply offended the crucial Latino Vote to an amazing degree. The Latino Vote was instrumental to Obama's win; it has been instrumental for politicians for over a decade; and Trump has DESTROYED his chances of getting the VAST MAJORITY of it. 75% of Latinos have a negative view of Trump, while only 13% have a positive view, according to one poll; while all other polls show about the same, if not worse. That means about 81% of Latinos would be voting Democrat, if Trump were to run today.
→Univision poll: Overwhelming majority of Latino voters oppose Trump http://fusion.net/...
→Breaking: Latino voters don't like Trump one bit http://www.dailykos.com/...
→Why Obama Won: Hispanics, Millenials Were The Difference http://www.forbes.com/...
4. Current polls show that, if the election were held today, SANDERS WOULD BEAT TRUMP -- both in terms of the Popular Vote AND in 2 of the 3 biggest swing states -- if not electorally. You can't get much stronger evidence than that. Undeniably, Bernie stands an EXCELLENT chance of victory against Trump; and since Trump is the most likely Republican Candidate for President, Bernie stands and excellent chance of winning the Presidency, period.
→ Poll: Sanders Beating Trump In 2 of 3 Major Swing States: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
→ Polls: Sanders Crushing Trump In All Major Polls http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
→ CNN Poll: Bernie Sanders would beat Donald Trump http://www.cnn.com/...
So, that's a rational, fact-based explanation of how Bernie can win both the Democratic Primary AND the Presidential Election. Unlike most of the explanations screaming about how he can't.
BUT ALSO: If you hear that Bernie Can't Win because he “loves government” (he doesn't), or that he “hates business” (he doesn't), or that he's not Christian (despite his actions being FAR more Christian & compassionate than his fake-Christian opponents), well, just remember that we currently have an African-American, supposedly Socialist president with the middle name of “Hussein” – a President who Republican and for-profit media sources ALSO attacked by saying “he can't win” countless times - before he was elected President.
Now, compare those explanations for how Bernie Can Win to the many fact-free, reasoning-free, yet somehow know-it-all articles, ads, and for-profit sources that will tell you he can't.
Though occasionally, you'll run into a “Bernie Can't Win” article that has a few facts thrown in. I read a lot of these, and was fairly persuaded by them, at first – before I checked them out, and came to the conclusion that they just don't hold water. Sure, there are things that may hurt his chances, as with any candidate on planet Earth; but there is simply no justification for saying Bernie has NO chance whatsoever, as some wildly opinionated sources claim.
Here's a short list of the most persuasive of these ridiculous arguments, versus the Truth – truths you can VERIFY for yourself:
“Sanders can't win the general election.” Actually, against the current GOP front-runner, the latest polls demonstrate the extreme opposite:
→ Quinnipiac: SANDERS 45%, TRUMP 37% = SANDERS +8%
→ PPP: SANDERS 47%, TRUMP 37% = SANDERS +10%
→ CNN: SANDERS 59%, TRUMP 38% = SANDERS + 21%
→ RCP AGGREGATE OF ALL MAJOR POLLS: SANDERS +13.0% OVER TRUMP.
“He can't win the three biggest swing states of Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania.” Wrong. Against Trump, here's the latest polls:
→ Pennsylvania: SANDERS 44%, TRUMP 41% [20 electoral votes]
→ Ohio: SANDERS 42%, TRUMP 40% [18 electoral votes]
→ Florida: SANDERS 41%, TRUMP 45% [29 electoral votes]
→ CONCLUSION: SANDERS IS BEATING TRUMP IN 2 OF THE 3 BIGGEST SWING STATES – AND TRAILING BY A MERE 4% IN THE OTHER. So, were the election to be held today, Bernie would win 38 of these electoral votes, and Trump only 29. Does this sound like it's “Impossible” for Bernie to win?
“He's too much of an Idealist / Utopian / Liberal.” Same thing was said about Obama, when Obama was running against Hillary AND in the General Election. While most people remember this & don't need references, here's an (unintentionally) hilarious article from 2008 entitled “Why Barack Obama Will Not Win,” based on the opinions that he's too “liberal” and “utopian”: http://www.americanthinker.com/...
“The Sanders Surge in the polls is over.” Wrong again. Compare the articles written by for-profit & anti-Sanders sources a few weeks ago, with the current polls showing that sanders is STILL surging – and pretty much EVERYWHERE – including the all-important Swing States:
→ “Nothing to See Here: On Pooh-Poohing Sanders’ Surging Crowds"
→ “Two Candidates Surge In 2016 Polling...” by F.A.I.R. News, written TODAY (http://fair.org/...)
“Sanders won't win the Primary against Hillary”. (The NYT said this on July 8, also saying the Sanders Surge won't last. Since then, the surge has actually gotten more intense – with the MOST intense week of surging among the last two!) Sanders has been closing an average of 1.25% points versus Hillary for the past 24 weeks – a 30 point decrease in 3 months. The Democratic primaries don't even begin for another 6 months, and Bernie is just 25 points behind Hillary. Therefore, at this rate, Bernie will win OVERWHELMINGLY. In fact, if Bernie can keep up just HALF of the multi-month surge he has right now, he'll still beat Hillary by a good 6 percentage points.
→ See The Chart: Accelerating Sanders Surge Vs. Hillary: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
“The NY Times says Sanders Can't Win, so it must be true!” Yeah right. (LOL.) Maybe the NY times was an arguably respectable news organization a few decades ago, but many (if not most) people now recognize it as just another for-profit semi-tabloid. If you read their anti-Sanders articles, ask yourself if NYT's slams against Sanders would be any different if they were paid attack ads by the Republicans, and you'll see what I mean. Truth is, they've ALREADY been proven wrong, if not ridiculous, in their attacks against Sanders – which you can verify for yourself.
→ Salon.com has an article that sums up it up better than anyone: “Bernie Sanders gets slimed by the New York Times: This is what a smiling, condescending hit job looks like”: (http://www.salon.com/...)
"He needs billionaires to back him -- and has none. So he can't win." Wrong, wrong, wrong. Against Trump, Sanders definitely has the vote of most women, AND almost the entire Latino vote, AND the overwhelming majority of the Youth Vote. That gives Sanders a HUGE number of votes, volunteers, and economic contributors. Nor can billionaires just magically make women, Latinos, and younger voters LIKE Trump, or like his absurd political views. Nor can they keep Trump from being a loose cannon set to offend new, huge voting blocs. And what about the sheer number of unpaid volunteers Sanders has, and those he is likely to get, with his far more inspirational, realistic, and reasonable views? Those can do MILLIONS of hours of work, unpaid -- equaling BILLIONS of dollars in donations, potentially. And who are the majority of career activists & activist communities in general going to work for? Not Trump, that's for sure. Lastly, let's keep in mind that, while campaign financing from a few billionaires definitely matters, campaign financing from hundreds of millions of non-billionaires definitely matters, too. Put all that together and we see that the "Bernie Can't Possibly Win" message is proven ridiculous, once again.
“He's not doing well enough in the polls.” THE TRUTH: “Almost Every Major Poll Shows Bernie Sanders Challenging or Defeating Clinton and Republicans. Here's Why” HuffPost, August 22 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I think that last article by HuffPost says it all (and recommend it highly). Because no one can deny the FACT that almost every poll shows Sanders strongly challenging or defeating Clinton and the Republicans. And if ANY of the "Bernie Can't Win" arguments was valid, he wouldn't be doing so well in the polls, would he?
And lets not forget that Sanders has been SURGING in these polls, too – and with LIGHTENING FAST speed, nonetheless. (Googling “Sanders Surging” gets 303,000 results – and rising). Just a month ago, almost every major poll showed Sanders WASN'T challenging or defeating Clinton and the Republicans. Truth is, if the Sanders Surge continues for another 2-3 months, and anywhere near the current rate, we'll be seeing Sanders defeating Clinton in the primaries, and defeating Trump in the presidential election. Another fact, and one that you can prove to yourself.
Finally, let's keep in mind that the 2016 election is 14 long, long months away. That is more than enough time for some major surprise event or scandal to crush one candidate, or elevate another. In fact, such events are all but guaranteed. (For example, Trump might accidentally put his foot in his mouth, yet again, and offend some new, huge segment of the voting population... you think?)
And it may not come down to Bernie Vs. Trump, either. Even if that seems the most likely scenario, at the moment.
But whatever happens, the point of this article is simply to highlight one PROVEN FACT:
BERNIE COULD WIN.