Bernie Sanders is enjoying a huge surge nationwide and just won the New Hampshire primary by 20 points. Donald Trump has become a political rock-star who won New Hampshire by almost 20 points.
Despite seeming like polar opposites, Trump and Sanders share a common trait: they’re tired of the status quo.
Trump attracts disgruntled blue collar workers and fervent, if not utterly overzealous, patriots. Sanders attracts hopeful college students and other people tired of the wealthy being the only beneficiaries of GDP and economic growth. Both groups aren’t pleased with what’s happening.
Trump’s supporters want to go back to a time where America was a hardcore superpower and global enforcer. They want America to not only be strong, but also feared and a force to be reckoned with. They want a return to traditional values.
Sanders’ supporters want America to stop forcing itself on other nations. They look at the aftermath of America’s invasions and smell the scorched earth and bodies. They want America to be a place of compassion and growth. They don’t want to return to traditional values. Going backward in time is worse for every woman and most minorities.
Trump and Sanders supporters are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Because of them, more moderate contenders are being edged out. Jeb Bush and John Kasich are more traditional GOP candidates. They’re moving more and more right, but when the political landscape calls for someone to be anti-establishment, one must attempt to distance oneself from accusations of being a RINO (Republican in name only).
Hillary Clinton is still polling better than Sanders in most states, and she is a much more moderate candidate. Sanders’ campaign tweeted: “You can be a moderate. You can be a progressive. But you cannot be a moderate and a progressive.”
Clinton attempts to play both sides with some success, but the younger demographic is no longer buying what she’s selling.
I believe Clinton is doing better than GOP moderate candidates because of the way Democrats have interacted with the big political players in their party. Wanting social safety nets requires faith in those leading us. Clinton’s history and formidableness has positioned her in a superior position to her GOP counterparts.
To Democrats who aren’t supporting Clinton, she’s seen as a person willing to sacrifice her ideals in favor of what is politically convenient. Of course that will make her better at working with Republican legislators, or it would if she wasn’t so universally hated by them.
While it’s too early to call, one thing has been made painfully clear: the voters are tired of accepting whatever they’ve been served. The moderates may win out, but they’ll have to fight tooth and nail.
