November 6, 2019
In Blog News
Bernie has consistently posted strong polling numbers in Wisconsin — and now the state’s former GOP Gov. Scott Walker is telling news outlets that he fears Bernie winning the Democratic nomination because he believes Bernie may the best chance of any candidate to win the state back for Democrats in the 2020 election.
In its story this morning on the pivotal role Wisconsin will play in the election, the Washington Post reports:
Wisconsinites “respond to authentic candidates. Of the three leading Democratic candidates, I’m most concerned about Bernie” winning the Democratic nomination, Walker says. “Like Trump, people believe Bernie is fighting for them. His ideas are the most extreme but he’s authentic. He doesn’t hide on the substance.”
Similarly, here’s McClatchy today:
The idea that Sanders would make the most formidable Trump foe in rural Wisconsin has at least one surprising Republican advocate.
“I worry about him the most because I think a lot of voters, particularly in the bubble, forget it’s more about a gut check than a policy list,” said Walker, the former governor, who emphasized that rural voters would be drawn to Trump’s authenticity and anti-establishment moxie. “It’s a gut-check thing.”
Polls show that Walker and Republicans are right to believe that Bernie is well positioned to win Wisconsin for Democrats in a general election.
Bernie won an overwhelming victory in the 2016 Wisconsin Democratic primary — and exit polls showed him winning 71 percent of independent voters there. That support continues to be seen in 2020 polls.
In 10 general election polls tracked by FiveThirtyEight, Bernie tops Trump in Wisconsin. That includes the most recent New York Times poll, which showed Bernie the only candidate defeating Trump in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — the three previously Democratic states that delivered the 2016 election to Trump.
Bern after reading,
Sirota