beats the likes of Kamala, Joe, Beto possibly, Liz, Cory, Amy, wins the nomination, you have MY personal promise that I will donate to his campaign while eating a Mets hat standing on one foot shirtless in Times Square.

I promise.

never.

But yes, if he someone miraculously wins, we have to support the guy totally to stop Trump or whatever monster the Republicans put up as their nominee.

Your reply is more than honorable. It probably has never been the case that all of those who supported a losing candidate in a primary race for President went on to vote for the winning candidate in the General. It certainly wasn't true either in 2016 or 2008.

This time far though more than almost ever it is essential that we enter the 2020 General Election as unified as possible behind the eventual Democratic nominee. But the OP specified Sanders supporters, and made the need for unity all about Senator Sanders and no one else. OK, fine, but the fact that there have been many frequent posters on DU who have written and shared innumerable posts negative about Bernie Sanders specifically, it is just as important and fair to "hope" that they will support Senator Sanders in the General Election of 2020 if he ends up as the Democratic nominee, or will they sit it out?

But I also remember a lot of Clinton supporters telling Sanders supporters that they weren't needed when the Sanders supporters said they would like the platform to be more progressive. Let's make sure that attitude of "just go away then" doesn't happen, too.

we also don't let this happen:

If you lose, you can't demand the winning candidate use "your" platform?

Good.

They know they may not win, but they try to get a lot of supporters so that they can influence the platform. You are aware of this, right?

Sanders wanted to push the platform to the left if he didn't win the nomination. He had a lot of people that supported him and his policies. They use those numbers to show why things should be included in the platform.

It's the attitude of "you lost now fuck off" that doesn't work so well in actual politics. Especially when discussion primaries.

Bernie in the primary to push the platform left, knowing full well he wouldn't win it. Otherwise, I supported and donated to Hillary from the start of the season. I knew I'd be voting for her in the general.

I also remember many people saying that voters like you are me weren't needed and should just fuck off.

Oops.

But I do remember a lot of Clinton supporters telling Sanders supporters to go away. There is kind of one of those replying to this just above you.

Bad blood went both ways.

=======

...a race. Your post makes it sound like all Sanders supporters just disappeared after the primary. That's ridiculous given his 43% showing last time and that Hillary got 3 million more votes than Trump. Relax.

Clinton supporters voted for Obama in 2008. And I don't see anyone piling on Clinton saying that she didn't do enough for Obama even though her numbers were worse than Sanders'.

He did his job. So did his supporters.

Yet he did a better job than Clinton did in 2008?

I think we need to stop putting 2016 on Sanders. Let's focus on those things that actually need changing. And, for the record, if someone supported Sanders and then voted for Trump, they are a moron.

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getting her supporters to vote for Obama. I don't think we need to be telling him he did a shitty job. He did better than the Dem Primary 2nd place before him.

Yes, the numbers were close. Yes, there were idiots that voted Sanders and then Trump (though, how many voted for Sanders voters who voted for him in the primary were actually Republicans trying to not have Clinton get the nomination?). But he did better than the person 8 years before him.

in MI, PA, and WI. "Voted for Sanders in the primary and Trump in the general" voters gave the Republican the electoral college win.

Whataboutism won't work. Clinton-to-McCain voters did not put McCain in the White House.

These facts and outcomes are part of the historical record. They can't be disappeared.

...who people vote for?

That was a rousing endorsement!

Was there any follow-through? I don't remember seeing it. I do remember that he took a month off to write a book or something... and that left many previous supporters on their own to lick their wounds and to build up resentment and anger that fed on itself and that was inflamed by the likes of Susan Sarandon.

Lots of missed opportunities. It's only right that we be honest about it and discuss it.

Making the topic of his few post-convention appearances about our party's nominee, rather than droning on with the standard stump-speech would have helped. Sharing his fundraising email list would have helped.

Oh, wait, we're still talking about what Sanders did wrong.

But you probably knew that was my point.

Sanders did visit Wisconsin after Clinton was the nominee. And it's not a false equivalency when people are claiming he didn't do enough and he actually came to one of the swing states to campaign for the Dem nominee.

Clinton did not visit Wisconsin. Yes, she was busy, but everyone knew WI was a swing state. Bill Clinton told her she needed to get here. Feingold--you remember, the really popular liberal Senator from WI--told her that she needed to get here or she would lose the state. This was more than a "missed opportunity." And if you add the fact that she had a number of "missed opportunities" in OH and PA as well (as well as Comey, and Russia, and a number of other factors), I think we can stop putting all the blame on Sanders and his supporters for Trump being in office.

But I'm sure that won't stop you.

And let’s not forget his totally unsolicited tweet one day before the election stating that he did not believe that voting for Trump made one a racist.

...that it didn't matter who people voted for.

(I think it was the day before.)

...nomination, you deserve everything you get. And that goes for Harris, Warren, Biden, Beto, Booker, Klobuchar, etc supporters as well. This is going to take an all-hands on deck effort. We can't phone this one in folks. 80K votes is what separated a potential Clinton presidency from an actual Trump presidency. 80 THOUSAND VOTES!!!!!

And that goes for any of our candidates. We are not in a moment of history where petulance or purity demands can be forgiven. If my ultimate candidate doesn't win the nomination, I probably won't like it but I will vote a straight Democratic ticket, period. Because the alternative (another round of Trumpism) is totally unacceptable, too awful to even contemplate.

We need to win 2020 in the same way we needed to win 2018. Because we must. Because the future will not absolve any other outcome.

What I mean by that was, there were some Sanders supporters who couldn't stand the thought of voting for either Clinton or Trump, so they backed Sanders. When the primary was still early, I managed to wrangle my old man (Republican) into supporting Sanders, and both my grandmother and my mother ("Never Clinton" Democrats) were behind Sanders from the start of Clinton's campaign, essentially. That led to a household "support" of Sanders even though almost all of that support was because they felt they had no other valid choice.

When Election time came (and I can't really say with 100% certainty the way my family voted), I'm willing to bet a lot of those "Sanders" votes went to Trump. My wife was one of the "Bernie Bros" and sat the election out, citing the "DNC corruption" issue. The only thing I know with surety is that of my nuclear family, I was the only one that voted Clinton. This story repeats at my workplace, and at my wife's.

I can get why folks rag on "Sanders supporters" sitting the election out or voting for Trump, but there was a large contingent of "never Trump, never Clinton" right-wingers who crossed the line and were supporting Sanders. Once he lost in the primary, those votes were never going to come back to the "D" column one way or another.

They were never Sanders supporters to begin with. Many friends, not close but people I know fairly well. They were anti Trump and much much more anti Hillary. They saw an OK with Sanders and went there. When he was gone they held their gorge and voted for Trump because it was never going to be Hillary.

supporter who did not vote for her. As hard as it was for some of them they did it anyway. Would y'all please stop worrying about things that are in the general not anything to worry about. Perhaps there would be a more productive place to post this? I do not think this is a problem here so it sure is not productive to keep rubbing the noses of people who would NEVER have sat it out because they did not win in this story. Honestly, people here who did not want to vote for her not only voted for her but worked for her and drove people to the polls to vote for her.

Does this do something for all of you who say this over and over, make you feel better somehow? I fail to understand why this has been said over and over since the last election. Please.

I had to update because I had forgotten about the Bernie supporters I knew who were never going to vote for Hillary. They were R's and never members here.

Or Stein supporters posing as Bernie supporters. That could never happen.

but you tell yourself whatever you want.

What were their politics overall? Here is a breakdown from Nate Silver.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bernie-sanders-was-helped-by-the-neverhillary-vote-what-does-that-mean-for-his-chances-now/?ex_cid=story-twitter
"#NeverHillary voters were conservative, not super liberal"

I don't know you.

I voted Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the General. I am an old left-wing liberal. Most of the young left-wing liberals I know voted for Hillary in the General. Some did not vote because they could not support Trump or Hillary and did not vote in the General.

But outliers do exist.

Grow the party left, let the RW wring their hands.

I feel Bernie supporters are somewhat like Trump supporters in their blind admiration over a candidate rather than the common good.

I feel Bernie supporters are somewhat like Trump supporters in their blind admiration over a candidate rather than the common good.

They got the real Donald Trump.

I similarly voted Bernie in the primary and Clinton in the general (although actually I supported O'Malley in the primary but by the time I got to vote it would have been a write-in; I had pneumonia and forgot to bring a pen into the voting booth, grr.) But I would never say I "held my nose" to vote for Clinton. Using my head, as you say, and not my heart, it was clear that Clinton was the only anti-Trump option.

I heard too many Bernie supporters claim to not vote or vote 3d party. I love Bernie for his policies but don't think he showed great leadership there ... too many of his supporters in my area were very vocal in bashing Clinton right up to the election. That couldn't have helped us beat Trump, and at that point, Bernie's JOB - IMO - was to do ANYTHING he could to help beat Trump. It should have been clear to anyone with 2 brain cells (not blinded by whatever the right wing is blinded by), that Trump would be a DISASTER for this country (and the global environment) unlike anything we have seen before. I don't think it is hyperbole to say that has played out at least as badly as we could have foreseen.

So, just my opinion, but I think there is merit to the charge that Bernie didn't show the leadership he should have, when he should have.

Hopefully though, we can still be friends, as fellow Brown supporters.

Dems call other Dems racists or sexists because they’re not supporting the “right” candidate. If we can avoid that, unity in the general election shouldn’t be an issue.

That needs to be enough. I'm going to vote in my primary, but I'm remaining open to whoever it ultimately is.

For the winner in the primary still need to vote for the Dem in the general election. We should treat all dem candidates and voters with respect.

Candidates' jobs are to attract voters, build blocs, assemble constituencies, etc.

There will be third-party trial balloons, candidate-trashing, and much worse by the media, voters as a whole, and the rest of America, whether we like it or not.

I am focused on choosing the best candidates, and getting-out a message that a solid majority of America will embrace with hope and confidence. That's the best way to avoid a repeat of 2016.

-app

Fully 12 percent of people who voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries voted for President Trump in the general election. That is according to the data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study — a massive election survey of around 50,000 people.

They liked Trump more than Hillary. What's the point?

Continuing to blast him only further alienates.

while the world burns around us.

Oh well, I guess everybody needs a way to pass the time, but there are very few less productive than that one.

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this is prima facie evidence that either they were not liberals, let alone Democrats, or they were so hateful that they'd rather see the world burn than swallow their pride.

Weird, but it happens.

then, again, they were not liberals, let alone Democrats, or they were so hateful that they'd rather see the world burn than swallow their pride.

It is disingenuous to argue otherwise.

1. Just won't vote for Hillary no matter what
2. No reason to vote because she's a "shoe-in!"
3. Wanted ******* and because he/she didn't get it I'm not voting
4. There's no difference between the two
5. I'm voting for #3 (or #4 or #5)

I'm guessing you can think of even more.

We MUST have 1 common goal - support the Democratic candidate (whoever it is) and GOTV!!!!!

Ask the people on Twitter accusing Kamala of “sleeping her way to the top” and Beto of being a “pawn of the oil industry”.

trump re-elected.

Putin asks that you do not compromise.

They claim all other Democrats are "corporate owned" except Bernie.

Isn't he still a registered Independent?

I will ALWAYS vote for the Democrat.

Vermont doesn't have party registration.

However, the other Senator from Vermont proudly identifies as a member of the Democratic Party.

It’s messed up, but this happens every election. Why don’t we just encourage everyone to vote for the eventual nominee and stop pretending one candidates supporters are worse than anothers. Unity not division.

A significant portion of the sanders vote was neverhillary types who are not real democrats

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