President Trump predicted that the congested Democratic nomination race will go all the way to the party’s convention and that Bernie Sanders could prove the toughest opponent to beat in a general election.
Speaking to reporters during his flight to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, he said Sanders would offer the stiffest test.
“I actually think he would be tougher than most of the other candidates because he is like me, but I have a much bigger base,” he said.
Sanders is leading polls in the race for the nomination. He also has proven more adept at attracting followers on social media than his rivals, a strength he shares with Trump.
Supporters say he is bringing new and infrequent voters into the political process. And his energetic followers also turn out in numbers for his rallies — another feature of Trump’s success.
The result is a rash of media think pieces comparing two insurgent candidates who ran far from the party’s mainstream to try to clinch the nomination, who both like to say “yuuuuge,” and who share a populist skepticism for conventional thinking on free trade.
Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College, said the comparisons overlooked a crucial difference.
“Sanders has been in Congress an awfully long time, and he was an elected official before that. Although Bernie Sanders might not be the establishment favorite, unlike Trump, he is not coming from outside Washington by any stretch of the imagination.”
However, Sanders’s success in the early voting states has made him the main target of other candidates.
“It could go to the convention. It really could,” said Trump of the crowded race.
The Democrats’ last brokered convention was in 1952, when four candidates sought the nomination. Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois emerged victorious after three rounds of balloting but ultimately lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the general election.
Trump also repeated his claim that the Democratic Party would not allow Sanders to claim the nomination.
“They are going to take it away from Crazy Bernie. They are not going to let him win,” he said.
Sanders supporters were furious in 2016 when it emerged the party leadership put its weight behind Hillary Clinton for the nomination.
[Read more: Sanders has pulled the Democratic Party left, but it’s done the same to him]
