Sanders A Much Better Candidate Against Trump Than Clinton – Polls

Bernie Sanders is a much better candidate against Trump than Hillary Clinton, recent polls show. Hillary Clinton may be the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, but Bernie Sanders stands at a great position to defeat Trump, according to a joint study by the Reuters news agency and RealClearPolitics, a US non-partisan polling data aggregator.

Hillary Clinton has so far won 1,716 delegates and 524 super delegates. Bernie Sanders in contrast has only 1,433 and 40 of the same. With the delegates and super delegates together, that’s 2,240 for Clinton and 1473 for Sanders. This clearly shows that Hillary Clinton is in a much healthier position to wrap up the presidential candidacy compared to Sanders. Super-delegates, however, can switch their allegiances until the Democratic convention in July 25. Clinton and Sanders are campaigning hard for the upcoming Democratic primary in Oregon. It is set to be a closed primary and is scheduled for May 17.

However, these recent revelations show that Bernie Sanders stands a much better change against Donald Trump in the race for the Presidency than Hillary Clinton. According to RealClearPolitics, Sanders has a 13 percent advantage over Trump, as opposed to Clinton, who only has a five point advantage. So Clinton may be ahead in the Democrat presidential primaries, but it is Sanders who holds a double-digit lead in support over the Republican candidate.

The disproportional support of independent voters is what gives Sanders the edge over Clinton, according to Dustin Woodard, an analytics expert who came up with the polls. And with Bernie striking a chord with the millennials, it is hardly any surprise that he has attracted all these independent voters. The millennials are the most politically independent of all generation, and many students and young people are publicly and vocally backing Bernie. Youths have identified with his stance on equality, promise of a debt-free and a tuition-free education, and criticism of corporate America.

“Independents are the largest voting population in the US. Gallup reports that independents are 42 percent of the voting population, while Democrats are only 29 percent and Republicans are only 26 percent.”

Another poll shows Clinton’s unpopularity among the independent voters. A recent poll conducted by the George Washington University shows that Trump has a five percent advantage over Clinton among independent voters. In fact the poll showed Clinton had a highly “unfavorable” rating, mostly because she is viewed as being part of the “political elite.” Sanders, in contrast has low “unfavorable” ratings, as he entered the race without much national recognition and hasn’t “yet been subjected to negative TV ads that would drive up his unfavorable rating,” as said by Gary Nordlinger, political researcher at George Washington, in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The Democratic primaries may look in favor of Clinton at the moment, but the race is far from over. The two go head-on again on Tuesday, May 17 in the closed Oregon primary. While the question for Trump here is, how big a win can he get, it is set to be a tight race for Sanders and Clinton. But in the end, it may be the super delegates who influence the candidacy. They currently account for a total of 564 votes can change sides before July. So these polls could have a great influence on who they ultimately decide to go with.

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