For Bernie Sanders, things are about to get particularly ugly
Another Tuesday looms for Bernie Sanders, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether Bernie Sanders will continue with his campaign or end it. Realistically, Florida will end things for him. Let’s take a look at the Sunshine State.
The winner in Florida will receive 219 delegates. Politico believes that “no state accentuates Sanders’ weaknesses and Biden’s strengths quite like Florida.” What does that mean? Biden’s name is written all over Florida: a large Black population, two-thirds over 50, and 60% conservative or moderate. While Bernie Sanders has enjoyed the support of Latinos, Florida is a different story. A poll released Wednesday shows that Florida Hispanics have a negative view of the word “socialist.” Sanders compromised himself in his appearance on 60 Minutes, where he crowed about Fidel Castro’s literacy and healthcare plans. Many Latinos in Miami came from Cuba and don’t exactly share Sanders’ view of Castro. A poll conducted by University of North Florida shows Biden beating Sanders by a three-to-one margin overall or 66% to 22%. If Sanders seriously thinks debating Biden on Sunday is going to change any of this, he is sadly mistaken.
Bernie Sanders and his team made a huge mistake by lumping all Latinos/Hispanics together. In the case of Castro, Sanders’ words were a huge red flag. What was his campaign’s response? “Not a big deal. This is red-baiting from the establishment and really it’s just Cubans from Miami who care about this and they’re Republicans and they’re not voting for us anyway.” What an extremely cavalier attitude. Politico shared a poll from Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy which shows that Florida Hispanics are of different backgrounds — Cuban, Puerto Rican, Central America, and South America—and they are all against a socialist candidate at a rate of 70% to 18%.
Sanders and his campaign are apparently oblivious to these facts. The poll further showed that if Sanders were the Democratic nominee running against Trump, Trump would win in a landslide. Yet another poll, UNF, showed that Hispanics favor Biden over Sanders by a margin of 65-28, Black voters choose Biden 68% to 18%, and white voters, who make up 60% of Florida’s primary electorate, chose Biden 67% to 21%. Sanders needs every vote he can get. He can forget those.
Putting the final nail in Sanders’ coffin, Joe Biden has introduced a plan to combat COVID-19. He revealed his plan in a speech, and he sounded way more presidential than Trump could ever dream. He also took the opportunity to remind us of what we already know: Trump has completely dropped the ball on COVID-19, calling it a “foreign” disease, lying, and cranking up his misinformation machine. This is not going to help Trump in November, though likely, nothing will.
Sanders needs to drop out, endorse Biden, and try to convince his supporters to vote for Biden rather than to sit home, as some of them are threatening to do. We are always crowing about our right to vote, thereby participating in choosing our leaders. Sitting at home pouting instead of participating, because Bernie didn’t get the nomination, doesn’t help anything. Let’s see if Bernie does the right thing Wednesday morning.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years