Thanks to the Bernie Sanders Democratic revolution, party unity could frail by November.
Nearly one week ago, Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee and on Sunday, Bernie Sanders held a meeting at his home in Vermont with 20 supporters and advisers to discuss how to proceed.
“We are going to take our campaign to the convention with the full understanding that we are very good at arithmetic and that we know, you know, who has the received the most votes up to now,” Sanders said following the meeting. He added that he would continue his efforts at “transforming the Democratic Party,” alluding to the fact that the nomination may no longer be his main goal. Political experts expect Sanders to unite with Clinton in an effort to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump, and the expectation was that Sanders supporters would follow his lead.
However, that doesn’t seem likely.
Sanders, who has accumulated a large millennial following, appealed to his supporters, but they aren’t willing to support Hillary to defeat Trump if it means sacrificing their principles.
“There are options. It’s not our responsibility to make sure Donald Trump isn’t president,” said Kelly Collison, a 27-year-old pharmacy technician. Collins spent much of her time last year working as a volunteer organizer for Sanders in Michigan and she refuses to vote for Clinton.
If Sanders backs Clinton, Collison will shift her support to Jill Stein of the Green Party. “If he [supports her], there will be a lot of frustration with Bernie, but that doesn’t change anything,” Collison added. “We’re not supporting anyone who doesn’t have our values.”
Many Sanders supporters have expressed their plan of writing in Sanders on the ballot.
“I respect the man, but I won’t vote for someone just because he tells me to,” Sara Long, a paid and volunteer organizer for the Sanders campaign, said. “We want to vote some kind of legitimate change. We don’t want to vote to maintain the status quo.”
President Obama moved to bridge the gap between Clinton and Sanders when he endorsed Clinton on Thursday, with Vice President Joe Biden following suit. Obama acknowledged Sanders, saying that he deserved credit for influencing millions of Americans, not just Democrats, to vote for the first time. Obama said that no one else has been “so qualified to hold [the] office”.
Clinton knows she has her work cut out for her when it comes to influencing dedicated Sanders supporters. She told CNN that she “totally respects their feelings” and drew attention to the fact that she and Sanders agree on many goals and policies.
However, gaining the support of millennials is proving to be a struggle, considering that many were unimpressed with her achievement as the first woman representing the party in the presidential election. As it becomes more evident that millennials are largely unconcerned with uniting the Democratic Party, Clinton has an uphill battle against Trump at the polls.
