Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday pushed back against the idea that he is less electable in a general election than Hillary Clinton, and said his plan to take on Wall Street actually makes him more popular than Clinton.
“Well, I would suggest that Secretary Clinton look at the last Quinnipiac poll, which has me leading Trump by a significantly higher margin than she does, and that’s true of other polls as well,” Sanders said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.”
The latest December Quinnipiac University poll shows Sanders beating Trump 51 percent to 38 percent in a hypothetical general election matchup, while Clinton’s lead is a closer 47 percent to 40 percent.
According to Sanders, his campaign “is generating the kind of grassroots excitement” to win.
When asked why he thinks he continues to draw consistent support, Sanders pointed toward his plans to take on Wall Street interests.
“The number one reason I think is that the issues we are talking about, the disappearing middle class, massive levels of wealth and income inequality, the fact that Wall Street’s greed has had a huge impact on the lives of millions of people,” he said. “People want leadership now to stand up to the big-money interests, protect working people. That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”
Though he did not guarantee he would win the first Democratic caucus in Iowa on Feb. 1, he said excitement is high among his campaign.
“I think we’ve got a real good shot at it,” the Vermont senator said. “We got a great ground organization. There’s a lot of enthusiasm, we’re bringing out big crowds.”
In a RealClearPolitics average of polls for Iowa, Clinton leads with 49.8 percentage points. Sanders follows her with 37 percentage points and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley sits in third place with six percentage points.
Watch the interview in the video above.
