let me acknowledge at the outset that what follows is entirely anecdotal, but i found it interesting, and given where it occurred, perhaps a window into one (potential) swing state in 2016. a week ago I was at dinner in a leafy suburb of Philadelphia. Although Philly is reliably Democratic, the burbs are not, but this was an academic community, and the population here is almost exclusively blue america. Among the attendees were 5 women, all with advanced degrees, including three PHDs, most of them products of one of the 7 sisters. The ranged in age from late 30s to early 50s. Prototypical "Women for Obama then, and in fact all voted for Obama twice. All of them live in PA. after a few bottles of wine, the conversation turned briefly to politics, where i was surprised to learn that ALL of them loathe Hillary with surprising intensity and will not vote for her. The all preferred Sanders. Among the republican candidates, Jeb got thumbs down, mostly for his last name, Rubio a mild "meh" and they barely had any idea who Walker is ("that guy who doesn't like unions?"). so, based on a very small sample, but i drew a few conclusions- the Bernie Boomlet is real, Hillary may be in more trouble than most of us think, and PA is winnable, with the right candidate, message, and time spent in the state- none of which is guaranteed to happen of course.
I find it weird that two families (three, if you go back further in time and count the Kennedys) continue to rule a country as big as the USA. Personally, I could really understand it if people said they have seen enough of Hillary Clinton.
Shiny Pennsylvania fools gold will blind Republicans again, suck in their dollars and then turn out to worthless on election day.
I would support Sanders over Clinton - I agree he is a real threat. Hillary doesn't have much life in her campaign. She's running on name and history. But there's nothing fresh or new about her platform. I don't see much vision or passion. It's like she just wants to be president because she's a bit entitled to it. The Republicans just seem like a hungry pack of self-serving wolves not at all much different than Clinton. Sander stands out amongst all of them. He's the guy who really wants to fix things and has core beliefs. He can be the populist candidate like Obama was.
i voted for obama twice. and there is almost 0% chance i will vote for clinton. another clinton or bush does not make sense to me.
If Hillary is the Democratic nominee, your drinking buddies will vote for her. Because there is no other more palatable option. Vote Hillary! It's either that or some nutter
Wishful thinking. Do you think people who would vote for Bernie would vote for any GOP candidate? The only shot the GOP got is if Bernie actually got the nomination. This country is turning turning more liberal, the GOP keeps going further and further to the right. I'm the moderate, and the GOP hasn't tried to appeal to us since GW. McCain had a chance, but they screwed the pooch with Sarah Palin.
I also support Sanders over Clinton. There's zero chance I'd vote Republican this election given the bat**** crazy place the party has veered off towards so I'd vote Clinton if it came to that but I think she would be the worst President among Sanders, O'Malley, and Warren if she decides to run. Clinton just wants to blow all the old party Demo dog whistles to get elected, she's got nothing new to bring this country forward. Plus, nobody in their right mind should trust Clinton. She's shady as hell.
I agree that she is shady as hell, but trust her - I do, because I kinda know what kind of president she will be. She will be socially liberal and fiscally big business just like the GOP. Really that's where the Dems and Repubs differ the most. Dems set taxes and spending to favor the masses, and Republicans set it up to favor those who make money in the top 5%. Other than that their differences are purely social on issues such as race and gender equality, abortion and such. When it comes to business and foreign policy, there really isn't all that much difference. Clinton would have never brokered the Iran deal, that wasn't a democratic initiative, it was an Obama initiative and unique to his presidency. I think Clinton will be more of a hardliner when it comes to foreign policy. But you kinda know what you get with Clinton. So in that sense, I trust her to do what I expect. Which is keep the status quo. Her biggest advantage is that she is tough as nails. You know no one is going to shake her. That's a very good quality in a president. No other candidate is better prepared to deal with a crisis than Hillary on either side of the isle. In a global crisis, I trust her the most. In terms of reforming the system, I trust Sanders a whole lot more. He's riskier in that similar to Obama & Bill he will stumble his first year or two. But I think he has the toughness to lead through that. The issue with any Republican is that a victory will give them the ability to put more conservative justices and once again start cutting taxes, starting a military campaign, and sinking us into massive budget deficits. This is what Reagan did, it's what the Bush's did. It's their MO. One party having control of the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and both houses of congress is way too much power. When one party has that much power, they inevitably screw things up. If Congress was solidly democratic and we had 6 liberal justices, I would likely vote for a Republican candidate truth be told. I don't think Jeb Bush would be all that bad of a president and in fact might make for a good one with a democratic congress. But with this congress - no way.
What I like about Hillary is what turns most people off. She isn't a visionary and she isn't idealistic. She is pragmatic. She isn't going to start a program that we can't afford and she isn't going to start a war because someone went after her husband, but I have no doubt that she has the guts to blow some country up if the US is threatened.
The democrats who don't like Hillary will probably hold their nose and vote for her over whoever the Republican is if they find themselves in a voting booth. The problem is, they probably won't find themselves in a voting booth. I think whoever comes out of the Republican primary is going to have the momentum to turn out the vote, while the Democratic turnout is going to be pretty pedestrian.
I disagree. I think given the choice between Hillary and [any Republican] Dems will turn out to put a woman in the White House.
If it is BUSH VERSUS CLINTON again I think the Turn out will be more. . . . Republicans Voting against Clinton Democrats voting against Bush Rocket River
