The one thing that has surprised me about what the Daily Kos has become, is how concentrated the Bernie Sanders haters are among its commenters. What is important to those who participate on the Daily Kos to know is how unusual that concentration is among the voting public, both at large and within the Democratic Party. In the image bannering this post published April 12, 2018, Bernie Sanders according to Morning Consult Polling has the highest favorables of any U.S. Senator in the country. He has a 72% favorable rating among all registered voters. This is from a comprehensive poll of 275,358 registered U.S. voters taken from January 1 through March 31, 2018.
Earlier this year Tylt did an open survey asking, “Does Bernie Sanders have a chance in 2020?” The survey was open for 20 or so days. The end results are posted here. Again, support by the participants at large of Bernie Sanders as a candidate for 2020 was overwhelming, with #BernieFor2020 winning with 86.6% of the vote and #GoAwayBernie getting only 13.4%.
The Hill headline for the article for this graphic says, “Poll: Bernie Sanders country’s most popular active politician.” in an article written by Jonathan Easley back on March 18, 2017. The article sights a survey done jointly by Harvard and Harris Polling. The sentiment expressed in the article is that out in the general public Bernie Sanders is highly well thought of. The graphic expresses that this upwelling of favorable feeling towards Bernie Sanders is greatest among registered Democrats with an 80% favorable rating even though he has maintained his independent status. Please note that when you take out those that are undecided Bernie Sanders’ unfavorable ratings among registered Democrats must be less than 20%. And yet here on the Daily Kos, judging on comments and posts, the great vocal majority are in that small minority of Bernie Sanders haters, which make up less than 1/5th of their fellow registered Democrats.
Another perpetuated myth here and pro-Democratic Party establishment pundit media, is that Bernie Sanders does not have support of the black community. His highest favorables of any demographic group outside of Democrats is among African-Americans, where he pulls in a 73% favorable rating. Since this poll was taken disproving the perpetually parroted story that black Americans don’t support Bernie Sanders, I have heard a never ending stream of pundits and comments claiming no support among blacks for Bernie Sanders, which is fake news. It at times like the Bush administration’s use of Truthiness. As an example in this case that would be that Bernie is a white haired seemingly white person therefore he wouldn’t have support among African-Americans, therefore it must be true… But it’s not. It is about time we shake off this fakery and come to grips with the truth that Bernie Sanders has sturdy legs of support in the black community. Something you would never know from what is said here on the Daily Kos.
Blacks are followed by Hispanics with a 68% favorable rating for Bernie Sanders, then 18 to 34 year olds and Asian-Americans are tied at 62%, followed by women with 58%. Women with 58%, which is also notable since a propagandist like false perception has been disseminated here that men overwhelmingly support Bernie Sanders, i.e. the Bernie Bros, when women actually view him more favorably than men do. Men support Sanders with a 55% favorable rating. Lastly whites support Bernie Sanders with a 52% favorable rating, which also dismisses the narrative that Bernie Sanders only has support among white people in the northern states. Of the demographic groups captured in this poll whites were the smallest group supporting him yet still above 50%. His support is broad. He was underwater (having a favorable rating below an unfavorable rating) with none of the groups in the poll. Bernie Sanders has the broadest support of any national politician at this time.
About the same time as the poll above The Hill asked Harvard Harris Polling to do a poll asking, “Who is the Leader of the Democratic Party Today?” The results were not encouraging for establishment loving Democrats. The number one position in the poll was held by that little known candidate called “No one.” Forty percent (40%) of those who were polled believe that there was no one leading the Democratic Party. Thirty seven percent (37%) of registered Democrats believed that no one was leading the Democratic Party. “No one” was followed by Barack Obama with 15% of those polled, then Bernie Sanders with 12%, Elizabeth Warren with 11%, Hillary Clinton with 10% and “Someone New” with 8%. Beyond that “Other” got 4%. With only Hillary Clinton removed from the survey Bernie Sanders leads the pack behind “no one” with 18% of the vote. Again an Independent seen as leading the Democratic Party by most voters.
It would seem that the Daily Kos forum has become out of step with the citizens of the Democratic Party. The Daily Kos commenters also misunderstand how Bernie Sanders is perceived by the American people in general. Granted, Bernie Sanders is a populist candidate, but… as my fellow Kosacks embrace things like medicare for all, corrections to income and wealth inequality, free and debt free college tuition, getting big money out of politics, establishing a minimum living wage, etc. etc. we should remember who was the original champion of our new progressive direction and maybe, just maybe, that person should be that someone to unify under. Bernie Sanders, as time goes on, seems to be for the great majority of Democrats the real leadership of our new progressive movement. And not being aligned with that reality is, frankly, a big misstep hurting the relevance of the Daily Kos.