Don't be fooled by the Clinton-Sanders feud, Dems are united

BY MARGIE OMERO, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 09/21/17 11:00 AM EDT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Maybe, like me, your personal feed is still filled with Hillary Clinton versus Bernie Sanders squabbles, with hardly any break since spring 2016. Seemingly every story has the potential to cause a flare-up, like the greasy meal before the pimple: news of a Russian company’s Facebook buy, Clinton’s new book, Sanders’s “Medicare for all” plan, and a constant stream of 2020 stories. Even news of Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez teaching a course at Brown caused a Bernie/Clinton fight between my Facebook friends and their friends’ friends.

It’s exhausting. But is it real? That is, are Democratic voters overall — not just paid operatives and the most active of activist — still divided? The polling suggests not. In fact, Democrats are far more united than Republicans.

First, Democrats are overwhelmingly united in their opposition to Trump, while Republicans are more mixed. From his first days in office, Trump’s numbers with Democrats have been abysmal. Gallup notes even recent presidents have not had such low numbers across party lines so early in their first terms. And Trump’s numbers among Democrats have barely budged.

Much was made of this and similar headlines about Sanders/Trump voters, seemingly validating a common pundit theme that Sanders and Trump voters are nearly identical. Yet in the careful analysis of George Washington University Professor John Sides, we learn these voters were more likely motivated by the racial anxiety stirred up by Trump, rather than something unique to the 2016 Democratic primary. Further, there were actually fewer Sanders/Trump voters than there were Clinton/McCain voters in 2008.

Meanwhile, Republicans are more divided on their own party’s leader. Trump’s approval numbers have softened somewhat with his base since he took office. Pew even found a majority of Republicans either “don’t like” or “have mixed feelings” about how Trump has been conducting himself as president.

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http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351722-are-clinton-and-sanders-dividing-democrats-not-if-you-ask-me