The online audience declares Bernie Sanders the debate winner again following the second Democratic primary debate that focused heavily on foreign policy following the recent tragic terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Bernie Sanders wins online polls as his base of support includes the kinds of voters likely to spend a lot of time on the internet, particularly younger voters. In addition to the millennials, the online community also includes highly-educated, tech-savvy types, as well as those that have turned away from traditional media sources and get their information from various internet media outlets. It is somewhat surprising that Sanders’ wins by such large margins among online participants, capturing more than 80%, and sometimes over 90%, on internet polls.
Sanders won the first debate according to both online polls and focus groups, when he broke major marijuana policy ground by stating that he would vote for Nevada’s 2016 marijuana legalization measure. Hillary Clinton, who proclaimed support for medical marijuana without backing full legalization, won traditional polls following the debate and seems to have strengthened her position in national polls. Clinton, a tremendous debater, impressed many viewers with not only her first debate performance, but also her testimony before the congressional Benghazi hearings.
Regardless of how polls look heading into voting season in 2016, it will be imperative for Senator Sanders to get off to a good start in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Most polls have Sanders competitive in New Hampshire as the Granite State should be a stronghold for the Vermont Senator. Some Iowa polls have the former Secretary of State up by as many as 30 points. However, Iowa caucuses are difficult to predict as voters must be very committed trudging to caucus sites in the Iowa winter and publicly supporting their candidate.
It would seem that Sanders’ enthusiastic base should be a strong foundation for him in Iowa and his young supporters are less likely to be polled for a variety of reasons (they reside in cell phone only households, are first-time or infrequent voters, etc.), so it will be interesting to see if the 2016 insurgent candidate can pull off an upset like Barack Obama did in 2008. These young and infrequent voters are also very likely to support cannabis legalization, one of the pillars of Sanders’ criminal justice platform. It will be imperative that these voters get to the polls to help ensure that our nation sees real progressive change with the next presidential administration.
