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The electability argument is dead
Bernie Sanders just put 5 million nails in the coffin.
On New Year’s Day, the Sanders campaign announced that it had achieved a record-breaking 5 million individual donations in 2019. No other candidate in history has had as many contributors at this point in the election season. There is no longer room for doubt about the Vermont Senator’s “electability.” Sanders’ strong finish in the fourth quarter clearly shows he has what it takes to win against Trump in November
Pre-nomination fundraising predicts the victor of the general election roughly two-thirds of the time. Of the 11 elections since 1976, the candidate who raised the most before the primary won seven, according to figures from the Campaign Finance Institute. In most of the instances when it failed to prefigure the winner, such as both of Bill Clinton’s elections, the fundraising totals were relatively close. Incumbent George H.W. Bush only bested Clinton by a paltry $400,000.
The 2016 election was a major outlier. Hillary Clinton lost despite out-fundraising her opponent nearly 3-to-1 before the primary . A closer look at the numbers shows why Sanders is the best…
