She has been prominent on the national stage for 25 years. At this point everyone has pretty much decided what they think of her, making it that much more difficult to shift those opinions.

Although Bernie has been in national politics just as long, he hasn't been such a prominent figure except among strong progressives. There is still a lot of room for many people out there to form positive opinions of him, and he currently has net positives which gives him a better starting point.

I actually think its more likely that his favorable will go down some but I think it is impossible for Hillary's to move upwards.

Attacks on his honesty are likely to fail mostly because he is so consistent and is believable. However, they will call him a radical and attack him on taxes. The same garbage that Hillary and her surrogates are throwing. I think it will work on the Republicans so his numbers will go down and the Republicans will reclaim some Independents. However, it is hard to see him ever going to negative numbers on honesty and favorable.

Your point on Hillary is exactly correct. She is known and it will be very hard for her favorable to move far. It is this fact that Hillary supporters can not even acknowledge to themselves but must feel as cognitive dissonance. If they acknowledged it, they would not be able to actually support her since so much of her claim is based on electability or electability as the first woman.

Hillary has lot a lot of folks so she's got a low ceiling.

But there's lots of room in Hillary's numbers to dislike her or not trust her more. Her numbers can get worse.

She talks about being vetted but she really hasn't been fully vetted. She's only run two campaigns against the GOP in Democratically safe New York. She hasn't fully faced the wolves.

Does anyone really think they're going to stop at Benghazi? Emails, Clinton Foundation and whatever else they've dug up is what is coming - on top of her 25 years of flip-flops, lies, etc.

Anyone buying this crap that she's already been vetted is kidding themselves. The GOP isn't even warmed up.

Over 25 years, they still can't beat the Clintons. It is not for lack of trying on a daily basis either and spending millions, and millions of taxpayer funds trying... . Bernie Sanders is not a national figure and appears to them as an equal to their pool of candidates.

Yes, I agree that Hillary has been tested and beat them at every wave of false allegations.

She has higher unfavorables than favorable. More people in this country already view her unfavorably. Polls show that the word most often associated with her is dishonest.

She has not beaten anything. She is considered dishonest and the General Election has not even started yet.

the bucket has several holes in it....Hillary has never been beaten by the GOP harassment squad.

That said...Bernie Sanders has yet to be challenged by the GOP at least on a national level. Believe me, they are ready to stake him hard if they get their way and have Bernie Sanders as their opponent. They are praying for him to be the nominee.

The only national seat she has run for and won is Senator from a fairly left-leaning state. The same issues that allowed Obama to beat her are still present this year, and Obama was arguably a weaker candidate that Bernie is, at least in terms of experience on the national stage.

Now, President Obama will be supporting Hillary......not Bernie Sanders. I sense President Obama has been supporting her all along through the back door.

The attack ads from this appearance on Meet the Press write themselves https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/12/why-bernie-sanders-isnt-going-to-be-president-in-5-words/

Is your point that if they run ads they might cause him to be as unfavorable as Hillary already is?

I say we bet on a non sure thing. It is not sure that he will have unfavorables under that attack. He is starting from a strong position.

It is a guarantee that Hillary will be viewed unfavorably but you keep ignoring it. The kocks will spend 200 million against Hillary too if she is the nominee but they do not have to. She is already viewed unfavorably by the population in general, is the devil to Republicans and is viewed with mixed feelings by the Democratic Party. This is before any of the attacks which you say are coming and which there is ample further ammunition.

I think you are right that his favorables will fall. How much is a question. However, we already know the answer on Hillary. Again, you just ignore that. You are supporting a candidate that is in the place the Kochs would try to get Bernie too. It is not a guarantee that they can tarnish Bernie but it is a guarantee that they can Hillary because she already has high unfavorables.

Rove has determined that Sanders would be the weakest possible Democratic nominee and so has been running negative ads against Clinton in Iowa, NH and Nevada. For example, the ads in Iowa were normal Karl Rove lies http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-flattered-karl-rove-attack-ad/story?id=36343405

Yes. Hillary claims that the Republicans are spending so much attacking her now. They always cite to Karl Rove as though that proves anything. He is not airing ads. American Crossroads has a web site that attacks lots of democrats including Hillary. Yes he attacks her so what. Its not because they think she is a good candidate just the most likely one.

The first reason they go after Hillary now is she is a lightning rod for Republicans. That is our point. She is red meat to the Republicans and will be that if she loses or wins the primary. It helps their fund raising in the republican party base just like we attack George Bush and Cheney still even though they are not running at all.

The second reason they attack her besides history and the fact that they can fundraise off her is till recently she was considered the inevitable candidate. Parties and political players start building memes a year ahead for candidates they consider relevant. When Bernie started and till recently he was thought to have NO chance so they dont attack him.

Hillary attacks Trump. Do you think its because she wants to run against Rubio or Kasich btw? But she polls well against Trump. Dont you think under your logic she would be going after Cruz?

You know the answers to these questions and your single point already.

Candidates always run against the frontrunner. If Bernie ends up the candidate, the Republicans will start attacking him. That is your point and its one pretty obvious and meaningless point. Yes, they will attack Bernie but they will attack Hillary and they will attack every candidate for the house senate and dog catcher who has a d next to their name.

You know the answers to your questions and single point already. Now see if you can address my point rather than just assert that Republicans will attack Bernie if he is the nominee and expressing an opinion that it will lower his unfavorables.

You do know that is the sole purpose of attack ads ... to lower the opponents unfavorables. Why would you want to have a nominee who already starts with high unfavorables.

To add to my point. Now that Bernie is considered possible as a nominee, they are starting to attack him too. Which is the point you ignore, its not because Hillary is the best candidate its because of likelihood.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511258961

in the GE and take the party with her. The Hindenburg will look like a damp squib in comparison. Even if she isn't indicted. She will severely depress turnout of the left/liberal base and be worth 1-3 million extra Repig votes from their suddenly- motivated cave Orc base.

And anyone who can't understand that is dumber than a sack of hammers.