Sanders' Campaign & the Democratic Party

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4899
Date Written:  2017-03-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21538

Despite his many flaws, the Sanders campaign had a working-class, implicitly anti-capitalist flavor that garnered considerable support among those who might otherwise have voted for Trump, as many perhaps did.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Despite using the term "political revolution" in his campaign, Sanders' "socialism" was hardly Debsian. When questioned, he took the opportunistic course of defining socialism as Social Security and the safety nets of the Scandinavian countries. Socialists no doubt could find a number of defects in Sanders' positions on foreign policy and elsewhere.

But these are of minor significance compared to the remarkable results he achieved. Starting with close to zero name recognition and with no corporate dollars, the Sanders campaign gathered considerable working-class support. He defeated Clinton in 23 of the 50 states and tied her in two others.

He garnered more than 13 million votes, 43% of the total, and managed to win outright in the "battleground" states of Michigan and Wisconsin. He also exceeded 40% of the vote in five others (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.).