The big difference between the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders phenomena, in one chart
By Aaron Blake
January 25,2016
Bernie Sanders now has a real, legitimate shot at winning the Democratic presidential nomination — something we're not even sure he believed was possible when he began what was supposed to be a quixotic campaign.
And as Sanders has continued his ascent in Iowa and New Hampshire, a certain storyline has emerged. It basically goes like this: The same pervasive anti-Washington sentiment that has led Republicans to elevate Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in their primary contest are now buoying Sanders on the Democratic side.
And that's true to an extent. Sanders is calling for a political "revolution," and liberal voters seem to be eating it up, turning out in droves for his rallies. He's also more in the political extreme than most any other legitimate presidential candidate in recent history — just like Trump and Cruz.
But to say that Democrats are experiencing the same kind of phenomenon as Republicans is to miss a key point. And that is this: Republicans want a very different end result to their revolution. They want purity and principles; Democrats don't.
According to a new poll from Monmouth University, 68 percent of Democrats say the problem with Washington is that there isn't enough compromise. An additional 25 percent say it's politicians who aren't principled enough.
On the GOP side, it's the opposite. Their voters say 54 percent to 36 percent that the problem is too few principled pols.
Those numbers are all the more amazing when you consider that Republicans in Washington have been making principled stands for much of the Obama administration. It's the very reason that not much legislation is passing in Congress. We have a Democratic president and a Republican Congress that has been very reluctant to cede any ground to him.
That's not a judgment so much as it is a statement of facts. And it also happens to be what Republicans in the United States demand from their lawmakers at this particular point in history. It's no coincidence that the man at the center of standing in Obama's and Congress's way — Cruz — is ascendant in this race. Trump, too, is a reflection of this, although in a different way. Yes, he talks about making good deals, but it's not really about compromise for him; it's about winning and getting the best deals.
That same phenomenon just doesn't exist on the Democratic side. There is clearly a desire for an outsider and perhaps for a more liberal candidate such as Sanders. There is clearly a desire for progress.
But that form of progress isn't as rigidly defined as it is in the Republican Party. Democrats aren't tired of compromise; they want more of it.
None of which is to say that Sanders can't win the Democratic nomination — just that a major factor working in Trump's and Cruz's favor isn't working in his favor. Were the Democratic contest more about purity, it would certainly accrue to Sanders's benefit.
But to say that the Cruz/Trump phenomenon and the Sanders phenomenon are about the same thing is to miss a big part of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/25/the-big-difference-between-the-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders-phenomena-in-1-chart/
By Aaron Blake
January 25,2016
Bernie Sanders now has a real, legitimate shot at winning the Democratic presidential nomination — something we're not even sure he believed was possible when he began what was supposed to be a quixotic campaign.
And as Sanders has continued his ascent in Iowa and New Hampshire, a certain storyline has emerged. It basically goes like this: The same pervasive anti-Washington sentiment that has led Republicans to elevate Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in their primary contest are now buoying Sanders on the Democratic side.
And that's true to an extent. Sanders is calling for a political "revolution," and liberal voters seem to be eating it up, turning out in droves for his rallies. He's also more in the political extreme than most any other legitimate presidential candidate in recent history — just like Trump and Cruz.
But to say that Democrats are experiencing the same kind of phenomenon as Republicans is to miss a key point. And that is this: Republicans want a very different end result to their revolution. They want purity and principles; Democrats don't.
According to a new poll from Monmouth University, 68 percent of Democrats say the problem with Washington is that there isn't enough compromise. An additional 25 percent say it's politicians who aren't principled enough.
On the GOP side, it's the opposite. Their voters say 54 percent to 36 percent that the problem is too few principled pols.
Those numbers are all the more amazing when you consider that Republicans in Washington have been making principled stands for much of the Obama administration. It's the very reason that not much legislation is passing in Congress. We have a Democratic president and a Republican Congress that has been very reluctant to cede any ground to him.
That's not a judgment so much as it is a statement of facts. And it also happens to be what Republicans in the United States demand from their lawmakers at this particular point in history. It's no coincidence that the man at the center of standing in Obama's and Congress's way — Cruz — is ascendant in this race. Trump, too, is a reflection of this, although in a different way. Yes, he talks about making good deals, but it's not really about compromise for him; it's about winning and getting the best deals.
That same phenomenon just doesn't exist on the Democratic side. There is clearly a desire for an outsider and perhaps for a more liberal candidate such as Sanders. There is clearly a desire for progress.
But that form of progress isn't as rigidly defined as it is in the Republican Party. Democrats aren't tired of compromise; they want more of it.
None of which is to say that Sanders can't win the Democratic nomination — just that a major factor working in Trump's and Cruz's favor isn't working in his favor. Were the Democratic contest more about purity, it would certainly accrue to Sanders's benefit.
But to say that the Cruz/Trump phenomenon and the Sanders phenomenon are about the same thing is to miss a big part of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/25/the-big-difference-between-the-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders-phenomena-in-1-chart/
invest at your own risk, based on your own due diligence, at your own risk tolerance
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
