Sen. Bernard Sanders has ridden an avowedly socialist agenda, including government-sponsored college and health care for all, to the top of the polls, not only in the Democratic presidential contest but also in head-to-head matchups against Republicans.
But analysts said the Vermont senator’s rise is not an indication that the country is ready to embrace his full agenda, attributing his polling numbers to personal popularity rather than a leftward tilt by voters.
“They like him better. When he wins polls, it’s because they like him better. They see him as more honest and more authentic than Secretary Clinton,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Mr. Sanders has repeatedly said for him to be elected would take a shift in voters, who would have to show they’re prepared to accept seeing their taxes rise in exchange for the government providing them more benefits.
As his poll numbers have risen, he says it’s proof his ideas are no longer out of the mainstream, not only among Democrats but among voters overall.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll this weekend found Mr. Sanders with a 15 percentage point lead over GOP front-runner Donald Trump in a national head-to-head matchup. Hillary Clinton only tops Mr. Trump by 10 points in the same poll.
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And in New Hampshire, considered a swing state in presidential elections, Mr. Sanders leads Mr. Trump by 23 percentage points in the latest CNN/WMUR poll, compared to a 9-point lead for Mrs. Clinton.
“In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton in terms of taking on my good friend, Donald Trump,” Mr. Sanders says.
There’s evidence those numbers are a reflection of good will toward Mr. Sanders, more than an acceptance of his policies.
The CNN/WMUR poll found Mr. Sanders with a staggering 91 percent approval rating among New Hampshire Democrats, which was 26 points higher than Mrs. Clinton’s approval.
Democratic strategist Jim Manley said Mr. Sanders has managed to tap into a certain level of anger among Americans, but that it won’t be enough to get him elected.
“I understand that polls on New Hampshire and Iowa seem to be going Sen. Sanders’ way, but I’m not convinced that’s going to be the case when it come to the general election,” said Mr. Manley, who is supporting Mrs. Clinton in the primary. “His views are just too far out of the mainstream, I think, for many Americans.”
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Mrs. Clinton’s response on the campaign trail has been to run toward President Obama, embracing his agenda and arguing Mr. Sanders’ plans go too far.
That leaves Mr. Sanders with a sizable chunk of Democrats, though, who say Mr. Obama didn’t go far enough on big-ticket items, said Matt Dallek, a political management professor at George Washington University.
“I think he’s tapped into [the] sense on the left that not enough was done, that Obama made too many compromises on health care reform, on Dodd-Frank, [they] didn’t break up the banks and no one went to jail,” he said. “It’s a real sentiment — I think he’s tapped into that. Do I think that his policies enjoy support from a majority of the country? No, I don’t. And there’s evidence of that, and I don’t think there’s any path to him getting his policies enacted.”
For now, though, voters continue to rate Mr. Sanders comparably to the other major candidates.
In a new Pew Research Center survey asking what kind of president Mr. Sanders would be, 30 percent said he would be “good” or “great,” 22 percent said he’d be average and 35 percent said he’d be “poor” or “terrible.” Those were generally comparable to the numbers for Mrs. Clinton, who scored 35 percent, 18 percent and 44 percent respectively, and Mr. Trump, who was expected to be good or great by 31 percent — though 52 percent said he would be poor or terrible.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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