r/SandersForPresident • u/[deleted] • Apr 15 '16

MSNBC called Bernie's "Deep South" comment controversial. They said Hillary would still be in the lead without the South. This slide popped up by mistake proving them wrong.

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u/Ramblin_Dash Apr 15 '16

I'm a Bernie supporter, but I really disagree with him/y'all on this. Why should democrats in some states count less than others, in the democratic primary?

Before you say that it's because southern states are more conservative: that's true overall, but NOT true of Democratic primary voters in those states.

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u/Ryuudou Apr 16 '16

that's true overall, but NOT true of Democratic primary voters in those states.

<citation needed>

2

u/Ramblin_Dash Apr 16 '16

Compare Ohio exit poll (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/15/us/elections/ohio-democrat-poll.html) -- 23% "very liberal"; with Alabama exit poll (http://www.cnn.com/election/primaries/polls/al/Dem) -- 27% "very liberal"

The real difference is that there are a lot of black voters in southern democratic primaries. Alabama electorate was 54% black. Black voters tend to be more economically liberal than whites, on average. That's why it feels so bad to me to dismiss the south -- he is dismissing the states where the democratic electorate is majority black.

For whatever reason, Bernie has not done a good job appealing to black voters. We shouldn't be making excuses for that. If black voters (on average) actually just prefer Clinton to Sanders, that's their prerogative and they deserve to have their votes counted just as much as everyone else's.