As a very liberal woman, it is my dream for Sanders to become president, but this isn’t going to happen. I agree with almost everything Sanders stands for and still, I have the common sense to know he will not win. In our current political climate of hating women, the LGBT community and minorities, conservatives will not allow for Sanders to win.
Our country needs someone more moderate who could win by pulling votes from more than just left-leaning progressives. The sad truth is, voters will dislike Sanders for being liberal, Jewish and old. I hate to say it, but I believe it to be the truth. It’s highly unlikely any of President Donald Trump’s supporters could see past these things.
It’s not fair that at this point in American society, voters can’t fathom Sanders as our president. What we saw in the 2016 election only further proves this point. Many conservatives disliked former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because of her gender. There were other reasons many didn’t like her, but at the end of the day, many just couldn’t see a woman in the White House.
I believe American voters won’t elect Sanders not based on his liberal views, but because of his age and his religion. As much as America loves to scream about religious freedom and separating church and state, it’s rarely ever applied.
If church and state were really separate, same sex marriage wouldn’t have even been such a hot button issue. There is no other argument for a man and man or a woman and woman not to be able to be married. The majority of arguments against it were religion-based. I believe this also to be true for abortion.
A lot of issues that are debated upon are influenced by religion. This shouldn’t be the case if church and state were actually separate.
Sanders being Jewish hasn’t been a huge issue in the past, but his non-WASP status would play a significant role if he were to become the Democratic nomination.
Many Trump supporters are not quiet about their dislike for women, the LGBT community and minorities, and Sanders is not quiet about how he feels the opposite. His platform in 2016 consisted of increasing gun control, preserving LGBT rights, protecting a woman’s right to choose and reforming immigration. I’m sure his 2020 platform won’t be much different.
I love Sanders and I support his platform, but I don’t support him running for president. He is much too liberal and is only splitting the vote like he did in 2016.
Although, the popular vote did go to Clinton, her platform would’ve been stronger if Sanders didn’t run. Whoever gets the Democratic nomination in 2020 will have to compete with Sanders.
If Sanders gets the Democratic nomination, which I don’t think he will, he will lose to Trump because of how liberal he is. Because Sanders is a socialist and not technically a Democrat, even though he ran on the Democratic ticket, people are turned off from him.
Ashlon Lusk is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from Houston, Texas.
