[pe2-image src=”http:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-tv-__P-YvrI\/VtcAkZ7oWyI\/AAAAAAAAAno\/Qr3egGDqD5M\/s144-c-o\/20260301_2300%252520Bernie%252520or%252520Bust%252520Clinton%252520can%2525E2%252580%252599t%252520count%252520on%252520Sanders%2525E2%252580%252599%252520supporters%252520%252528WT%252529.jpg” href=”https:\/\/picasaweb.google.com\/102930737536139888016\/Campaign2016#6257470832690879266″ caption=”\u2018Bernie or Bust\u2019: Clinton can\u2019t count on Sanders\u2019 supporters in November By Kelly Riddell – The Washington Times (Tuesday Mar. 1, 2016) — The movement is called \u201cBernie or Bust,\u201d and it means just that: If Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont loses the Democratic presidential nomination, a group of his supporters will either write in his name in the general election or consider casting their ballot for a Republican. The one thing they certainly won\u2019t do: Vote for Hillary Clinton. http:\/\/publicskeleton.com\/media\/?p=561″ type=”image” alt=”20260301_2300 Bernie or Bust Clinton can\u2019t count on Sanders\u2019 supporters (WT).jpg” ] \u2018Bernie or Bust\u2019: Clinton can\u2019t count on Sanders\u2019 supporters in November
\nBy Kelly Riddell – The Washington Times<\/p>\n
(Tuesday Mar. 1, 2016) — The movement is called \u201cBernie or Bust,\u201d and it means just that: If Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont loses the Democratic presidential nomination, a group of his supporters will either write in his name in the general election or consider casting their ballot for a Republican.<\/p>\n
The one thing they certainly won\u2019t do: Vote for Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
More than 50,000 people already have signed up at the Revolt Against Plutocracy, pledging to vote for the Green Party candidate in the general election or write in Mr. Sanders\u2019 name if Mrs. Clinton wins the Democratic nomination. Other groups, such as Grassroots Action for Bernie, are taking to social media, using Facebook and Twitter to try to get the \u201cBernieorbust\u201d hashtag trending.<\/p>\n
Even Sanders supporters not tied to the movement, or unaware of its existence, seem to agree with its principles, making one thing clear: The Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Clinton will have a hard time attracting many of Mr. Sanders\u2019 voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be voting for Clinton if Sanders does not win the nomination,\u201d said Jon Clemens, a Sanders supporter from Hartford, Connecticut. \u201cShe has done nothing to earn my vote, and the Democratic Party should not assume that she will simply absorb Sanders\u2019 supporters. Clinton has only \u2018evolved\u2019 to progressive political stances when public polling indicated to her that it was politically advantageous to do so. She is disingenuous, has little integrity and lacks vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Mrs. Clinton gets closer to sewing up the nomination, her campaign will begin to grapple with damage from an increasingly divisive fight with Mr. Sanders.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Clinton spent much of the primary contest tacking to the left to try to blunt Mr. Sanders\u2019 attacks, but the senator\u2019s supporters say her late-season political conversion isn\u2019t convincing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe Bernie fans just won\u2019t vote for her,\u201d said Steph Faulkner, who hails from Mr. Sanders\u2019 home state of Vermont and is an avid Sanders supporter. \u201cWe are sick of the media telling us we have too. We don\u2019t like her. We don\u2019t trust her. We believe she is a Wall Street puppet. There is nothing they can say that will make us vote for such a woman. I mean, heck, people would vote for Trump over her, and he is a monster. What does that tell you? It tells me she is seen as the bigger evil. Trump is less evil than Hillary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the equation for Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic leaders is how widespread that sentiment is within their political base. Sanders supporters say not to underestimate them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 50 percent of Sanders supporters will never vote for her,\u201d Chris Fox, a Sanders supporter in Fairfield, Ohio, said in an email. \u201cThat is why she will not beat Trump. Weigh the Republican hate for her (motivation to vote) against the Democrat progressive liberal\u2019s hate for the status quo (unmotivated to vote for her), and we have a major problem on our hands. Only Sanders can beat Trump, but that\u2019s not why we are voting for him. He\u2019s the only person we trust with the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentiment was by no means universal. At the polls Tuesday, a number of Sanders supporters told The Washington Times that despite tension between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders, they would vote for the former secretary of state if only to stop Republicans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny of the Republicans would move us more toward the killing of civilians and a more interventionist foreign policy than what we\u2019ve seen from the Obama administration,\u201d said a 30-year-old woman voting in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
For some Sanders voters, their decision in November will depend on Republicans. The prospect of businessman Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination and facing off against Mrs. Clinton would force many of the Sanders supporters into Mrs. Clinton\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n
Steve Herbert, a technology consultant voting in Atlanta, who called Mrs. Clinton \u201cwishy-washy\u201d on major political issues, said he would have to back her in a race against Mr. Trump, but it would be a tossup if she faced any other Republican.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on what comes out on the other side,\u201d Mr. Herbert said.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Clinton\u2019s backers said they are not afraid of massive defections and are counting on the anti-Trump vote to bring Sanders supporters back into the Democratic fold.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, emotions are really hot. I know what mine were when Barack Obama won,\u201d said Maureen Rehg, 60, a Clinton volunteer. \u201cSo I know how they feel to really be passionate about someone, and I think Bernie Sanders has a lot of good ideas \u2014 a lot of good ideas \u2014 and he is a good man, but I think she is more qualified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several voters said the looming Supreme Court fight could chase voters to Mrs. Clinton\u2019s corner, with Democrats fearful of a Republican nominating the next justice.<\/p>\n
Mr. Fox, the Sanders supporter in Ohio, said he might be forced into a Clinton vote if the court nomination isn\u2019t settled. But he said if a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia is in place, he would write in Mr. Sanders\u2019 name on his November ballot.<\/p>\n
Other Sanders supporters say a Clinton nomination would hand the election to Mr. Trump \u2014 and some may even vote for him, enticed by his vow to finance his own campaign and his promise to remain outside the control of special interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the nonestablishment side \u2014 people not owned by big banks or businesses to do their bidding. We need to change how Washington works,\u201d said Jadon Salvant, a Sanders supporter from Fairfax, Virginia.<\/p>\n
Distrust of establishment politics runs deep among Sanders supporters, and that particularly dents Mrs. Clinton, who has been a first lady for eight years, a senator for eight years and a secretary of state for four years.<\/p>\n
Her ties to Wall Street, her use of a secret email server while head of the State Department and her unwillingness to release transcripts of speeches she made to Wall Street executives feed the anxiety.<\/p>\n
Sanders supporters also say they will blame the Democratic National Committee if their candidate loses the nomination. They point to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz\u2019s early decision to limit the number of debates, her support in 2008 for Mrs. Clinton\u2019s bid and her feud with Mr. Sanders over the DNC\u2019s voter files, as evidence that she was orchestrating a Clinton nomination from the start.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sanders\u2019 fans also blame the media, which they say has been unfair in its coverage of him, despite the crowds he has drawn at his rallies. According to a Decisiondata.org study completed in January, Mr. Sanders received 29,525 mainstream media mentions from June to January, compared with Mrs. Clinton\u2019s 87,737 and Republican front-runner Donald Trump\u2019s 183,903.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really sad how the press has tried to silence Bernie,\u201d said Mark Hartung, a Sanders supporter. He said even liberal-leaning MSNBC shifted its coverage away from progressive programming and toward establishment Democratic views. He blamed corporate interests he said were trying to silence progressive voices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll just write Bernie in and I think the DNC should look over their shoulders because all they want to do is keep the money rolling,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Democrats have tried to hand this primary to Hillary Clinton and bypass the will of the American people, and it shows just how much money is influencing the process. Tell them to be scared because the young crowd is coming for them. They are finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 S.A. Miller, reporting in Atlanta, and Seth McLaughlin, reporting in Virginia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n