New Quinnipiac *national* poll: "Sanders beats top Republicans, Clinton…. not so much"

[Mufaddal]

We have seen match-ups in swing states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but here is a national poll:



Link: https://twitter.com/QuinnipiacPoll/status/700274828742266880

[CoffeeCat]

1. The polls have consistently showed that Bernie is more electable than Clinton

In fact, the polls are worsening for her.

Clinton used to beat Cruz and Rubio. She doesn't anymore.

Sanders beats all of these Republican candidates.

She can't be our nominee. It's only going to get worse for her.

[Mufaddal]

3. I think she only beat them in Iowa

Most of the match-ups have only been done state-to-state until now.

What's strange is how they decided to highlight only certain losses in red, and not all of them. I had to look at the numbers a second time to see she is losing to everyone but Trump, and there she is only winning by a point.

[HooptieWagon]

4. It'll be a disaster down ticket as well, with her the nominee.

A lot of the superdelegates will be losing their offices.

[TeddyR]

2. Take these with a grain of salt

Republicans haven't spent 6 months bashing Sanders with the "socialist" tag or attacking him for whatever other reasons they make up. I expect his numbers to drop once the general public gets to know him. That said, he's still probably a better candidate than Clinton.

[Mufaddal]

5. These will definitely change

Obviously they're just a snapshot in time, so you're right, they should be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, Bernie's numbers could also rise. Keep in mind he regularly scores 20-25% of the Republican vote in Vermont, and it's not like our Republicans are drastically different from the rest of the country's.

All of that being said, these numbers should be a startling wake-up call to the Democratic Party establishment. Which do they like more: Hillary as a candidate, or actually winning in the general election? Turns out, those two things may indeed be mutually exclusive.

[HooptieWagon]

6. They spent nearly a decade bashing Obama as a socialist, communist, Muslim, etc, to no effect.

He was elected twice. Looks like most voters have tuned out the bullshit. Most of the voters like Bernies programs when polled.

[daleanime]

7. More then balanced out....

by the fact that people are still just meeting Bernie.

[CoffeeCat]

8. I respectfully disagree

You should take a look at the comment sections of articles about Sanders and our Democratic election. There are tons of right-wing comments about Bernie being a Communist and a Socialist. That argument has been out of the bag for months. It is a widespread rant against Bernie in right-wing circles.

Also, on talk radio--they discuss Bernie quite a bit. I listen to 2-3 hours of talk radio a week. The "Sanders is a Communist/Socialist" memes have been hashed and re-hashed to death. Sanders is a frequent topic of discussion, as is Hillary.

There is no way those attacks on Bernie could get worse. The right wing has been in full-court-press mode against Sanders in these attacks.

The attacks will be amplified in the General Election, of course.

[Mufaddal]

9. Here's the thing

That argument doesn't work so well when the candidate is Bernie. Watch:

"You're a socialist!"
"Yeah, and?"

My father-in-law tried this the other day. My wife mentioned something about Bernie, and he just mutters, "Socialist." "Yeah, and?" "Well..." (long pause) "At least he is honest about it." He then begrudgingly acknowledged that he's better than any other candidate out there.

[CoffeeCat]

11. Your post made me chuckle

...because when I was canvassing all over my city in Iowa, I met so many Republicans who were absolutely gobsmacked by their clown car of Republicans. They did not know which clown to caucus for.

So many of them said, "At least Bernie is honest." I think they envied that we had a candidate of integrity in our party. Even if they don't agree with him on many issues--they respect his honesty.

I had at least two Republicans who showed up in my precinct to caucus for Bernie.

Also--I know we won't win over most Republicans. So many of them are lost in Glenn Beck land. However, once Bernie explains what Democratic Socialism is, it will quell this argument a bit. It's not as scary as Sean Hannity makes it out to be. The right wing trades on fear, for sure.

Bernie might not be able to win over a good number of Republicans to his side--but he can explain Democratic Socialism and take the boogie man out of the argument for some sane Republicans.

[Mufaddal]

13. Once the red-baiting doesn't work

Then he moves onto substantive policy issues and personal integrity, and people start caring a whole lot less about the labels. At least, that's been my experience in the past when it comes to Bernie.

[appalachiablue]

14. I'm sure you've talked w folks about what socialism is and the VA, SS, Medicare,

public libraries, schools, roads, transportation, parks, streetlights, police, fire & rescue, US Postal Service, more. That our tax dollars also fund the bloated MIC with 1,000 US military bases around the world, and subsidize massive corporate welfare, Big Farm, Big Oil, Walmart and all.

Nothing personal. Just finished with AAA about a car issue. The technician was excellent, very bright woman, but when tallying the reasonable bill said, 'got to ad those taxes', in a disparaging way. (It was $4). Turns out she's lived all over the world, in So. America, Asia, South Africa, etc. because her father, a grad. of Berkeley in CA was career foreign service. So the rep. is definitely not a person lacking education and exposure to other cultures. Incredible, blew me away.

As we know Right Wing Hate Radio and TV backed by billionaires, have done a bang up job in the last 20 years of convincing Americans that gummit and tax revenue for services and programs are evil! And there's no civics taught anymore, everything's about money and business.

[TeddyR]

15. Look

I don't disagree that some Republicans are paying attention. But the problem will be the 60% of Americans who aren't paying attention.

[vdogg]

10. I suspect a lot of poll respondents

Are Sanders supporters who don't want Hillary to win the nom. I think these head to head match ups are meaningless until we get a single dem to unite behind.

[Mufaddal]

12. You suspect that based upon what?

Here's the press release with results and methodology: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2324