For a candidate who has popularity issues of her own, it’s perhaps a bit of surprise that #NeverHillary has not sprung up beside #NeverTrump.
Poll numbers, celebrity comments and a new advertising campaign have helped kickstart a new, if loosely associated challenge to the Democratic front-runner for president. But is there much to it?
Pulling cross-tab data from a recent survey, The Wall Street Journal caught the media’s attention with a headline saying that 33 percent of Bernie Sanders supporters couldn’t see themselves voting for Hillary Clinton in the general election.
“In a year when political outsiders in both parties appear to be capitalizing on voter support, the view among Sanders supporters that Clinton is the embodiment of establishment politics could prove to be a liability,” the story states.
Even though that statement has come true in the primary so far, particularly among young voters, the data needs context. One, the 33 percent number is a fraction of an already small sample: 197 Democratic primary voters who said they would vote for Sanders. Such a figure carries with it a high margin of error. Two, 78 percent of the Democratic primary voters surveyed said they would be satisfied with Clinton as the party nominee.
While that’s not perfect, it’s preferable to what the Republicans are facing. For instance, 55 percent of Cruz supporters in that same poll responded that they couldn’t envision themselves backing Donald Trump. And only 53 percent of GOP primary voters said they would be happy with Trump running at the top of the general election ticket.
Comparisons aside, there are still instances of an anti-Hillary mood outside a spreadsheet. The most prominent example in recent days is actress Susan Sarandon, a Sanders supporter, who suggested that a Trump presidency might be preferable to a Clinton one. She gave voice to a claim in the Journal story: that it’s uncertain if Sanders voters will jump to Clinton in November.
“I think Bernie would probably encourage people, because he doesn’t have any ego in this thing,” Sarandon told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. “But I think a lot of people are, ‘Sorry, I just can’t bring myself to [vote for Clinton].”
After criticizing Clinton’s record, said she might be one of them.
“I don’t know. I’m going to see what happens.”
Conservatives have been energized by the opposition. American Crossroads, the Super PAC founded by Karl Rove, unveiled a #NeverHillary ad this week and announced that more would be coming.
“With a long resume of scandals and unethical behavior, Hillary Clinton is the one candidate unfit to be president of a condo association, much less the United States,” said spokesman Ian Prior. “Because of that, it is important for everyone to consider what would happen if Hillary reached the Oval Office and then focus on making sure that never happens.”
There’s no such liberal barrage against Trump. His November poll numbers and deep unpopularity with the general public make him an inviting opponent to Democrats, and less of a threat to their power than Clinton is to the GOP. #NeverTrump is a family thing: A battle for and within the conservative movement and the Republican party.
A #NeverTrump voter is part of internal strife. From the looks of it, a #NeverHillary voter might come from just about anywhere. And if the latter faction is just getting started, maybe the broad appeal of its message really will be an obstacle on her path to the White House.
