Bernie Sanders Defeats Trump By a Wider Margin Than Clinton in a General Election

Posted: 10/21/2015 11:01 am EDT Updated: 10/21/2015 2:59 pm EDT

H. A. Goodman Become a fan 

Columnist published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Baltimore Sun, The Hill, Salon, The Jerusalem Post www.hagoodman.com

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As a lifelong Democrat against perpetual American counterinsurgency wars in the Middle East, the prospect of a hawkish Democrat or Donald Trump as Commander in Chief isn't acceptable to me, especially when America has a candidate for president who says "I'll be damned" if we send more ground troops back to failed wars.

There are many reasons I'm voting for Bernie Sanders over Trump or Clinton, and I explain these reasons in a recent YouTube segment, however Vermont's Senator will win the Democratic nomination because he's the only chance Democrats have in 2016. I highlight why only Bernie Sanders can defeat Donald Trump in my latest YouTube segment, in addition to why Clinton would have a difficult time against the billionaire.

So why is Bernie our only hope in preventing Trump from ever having a catastrophic encounter with Putin?

First, Real Clear Politics states definitively that polls show Bernie Sanders winning by a wider margin than Clinton over Trump:

RCP Average 47.2 42.0 Sanders +5.2

CNN/ORC 53 44 Sanders +9
PPP 44 44 Tie
NBC News/Wall St. 52 36 Sanders +16
Quinnipiac 47 42 Sanders +5
SurveyUSA 40 44 Trump +4

Compared to Hillary Clinton:

RCP Average 45.7 43.2 Clinton +2.5

CNN/ORC 50 45 Clinton +5
FOX News 40 45 Trump +5
PPP (D) 44 44 Tie
NBC News/Wall St. 49 39 Clinton +10
Quinnipiac 45 43 Clinton +2
ABC News/Wash Post 46 43 Clinton +3

While the most favorable poll for both Democrats is the NBC News/Wall St. poll, Sanders beats Trump in this poll by 16 points, as opposed to Clinton's 10 point lead. CNN has Sanders beating Trump by 4 points more than Hillary Clinton and overall, the Democratic-Socialist from Vermont defeats Trump in all the polls by an average of 5.2 points, as opposed to 2.5 points for Clinton.

Most importantly, Democrats need a foil, or the opposite of the New York billionaire, not the former Senator from New York who's proud of once representing Wall Street. A recent POLITICO article titled Trump has spent years courting Hillary and other Dems explains that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have a long history with one another:

Clinton, the Democratic front-runner and former New York senator who had some say over policy that could have impacted Trump's vast business dealings, received donations from both him and son Donald Trump Jr. on separate occasions in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007, according to state and federal disclosure records.

Trump has also been generous with the Clinton Foundation, donating at least $100,000, according to the non-profit.

...She wasn't the only Democratic beneficiary of Trump's wealth. Trump donated $5,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $20,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 2006 cycle, effectively buoying the election prospects of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, respectively.

Just $1,000 of Trump's money in the 2006 cycle went to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The last time Trump considered a White House run in 2011, reporters seized upon the fact that he has given most of his money to Democrats and Democratic causes, according to records.

While Bernie Sanders is the antithesis of the GOP and especially Trump, Clinton has received money from the billionaire. In terms of the Democratic establishment, years ago "reporters seized upon the fact" that Trump gave so much money to Democrats; a fact he could utilize to his advantage by saying he won't accept foreign donations or donations from rival political parties like Clinton.

As for why he gives to all politicians, Trump is quoted by ABC News as saying, "And you know what, when I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them."

Regarding the ongoing FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails, rest assured that Trump would do his best to discuss the matter during the entire presidential debates if Clinton is the Democratic nominee. There are simply too many political arrows to hurl at Clinton if you're Donald Trump, and unlike a classy and gracious Bernie Sanders, the billionaire would relentlessly attack Clinton's credibility, honesty, trustworthiness, ties to billionaires like himself, and links to Wall Street.

As for Clinton's ties to investment banks and conservative views on Wall Street, the banking community would be happy with either Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush, according to a Washington Post article titled The long-running (and unchanging) Wall Street primary between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush:

A "Republican-leaning Wall Street lawyer said over lunch in midtown" for that article that, "if it turns out to be Jeb versus Hillary we would love that and either outcome would be fine. We could live with either one." The remarks by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein that either Bush or Clinton would be great -- remarks that Martin O'Malley is doing his current best to make famous and undercut Clinton -- are also referenced. "Those would be two very good choices and we'd be perfectly happy with them," a "person close to Blankfein" told White and Haberman.

The fact that Wall Street isn't frightened by another Clinton presidency ties into negative favorability numbers for Hillary Clinton. According to a recent CNN poll, "57 percent of Americans say she is not honest and trustworthy." Another CNN poll states55% of registered voters have an unfavorable view of Hillary Clinton. As for swing states, July and August Quinnipiac Swing State polls find that swing states have negative favorability of Clinton and voters believe she is "not honest and trustworthy."

In contrast, Donald Trump is the embodiment of the "billionaire class," an arrogant and brash tycoon who thinks for some reason he's qualified to run the country. Against Sanders, Trump would be on the defensive. A recent Real Clear Politics article quotes Bernie Sanders as explaining why people like Donald Trump will be paying their share of taxes under a Sanders presidency:

What we have seen in the last 30 years, as most Americans know, is a massive redistribution of wealth, unfortunately it has gone in the wrong direction. From the middle class and working families to Donald Trump and his friends, the top one tenth of 1%.

Yes, let me be clear, if we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition free, as I believe we have to, in the 21st Century, yeah, we are going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation, yes we are going ask Trump and his billionaire friends to pay more taxes... We'll come up with a rate, but it will be a damn lot higher than it is now.

It's unimaginable that Hillary Clinton would ever speak in such terms, and since Clinton doesn't even want to reinstate Glass-Steagall, only Bernie Sanders offers Democrats a true ideological challenge to the GOP.

Can Bernie Sanders win a general election?

Well, not only can he win a general election, but he beats Donald Trump by a greater margin than Clinton.

Sanders doesn't have the scandals or honesty issues that Trump could pounce upon in a debate, and Bernie matches up nicely with Trump in a general election for numerous other reasons. Ultimately, Donald Trump embodies every single warning of Bernie Sanders pertaining to money in politics and billionaires controlling the fate of our nation.

With Hillary Clinton's FBI email investigation most likely running through Election Day, the only way U.S. nuclear launch codes get anywhere near a President Donald Trump is if the billionaire gets to debate Hillary Clinton on a national stage. Comfortable on screen and in his element, even Trump's nauseating arrogance would allow him to harp endlessly upon Clinton's email issues and prior controversies. In fact, Hillary Clinton might even lose decisively against Trump, primarily because the billionaire donated to her Foundation and the FBI investigation undermines her credibility.

With Bernie Sanders, the New York billionaire is reduced to a caricature of himself, and the personification of everything wrong in politics. Bernie Sanders is the only hope for Democrats against Trump and polls already show the Democratic-Socialist and Democratic candidate winning. In reality, only Bernie Sanders can save Democrats, and most importantly, the United States of America from a reality show in the White House. For this reason, in addition to many other advantages Sanders offers Democrats, the Vermont Senator will win the nomination and eventually the presidency.

The TRUTH will set you FREE.