Sanders Says He’s Lost Some Primaries Because ‘Poor People Don’t Vote’

Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders presidential campaigning, Wilmington, Delaware, America - 23 Apr 2016 (Rex Features via AP Images)
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Sunday that he had lost some primaries with a large population of people with high levels of income inequality because “poor people don’t vote.”

NBC “Meet the Press” host asked Sanders why he had lost 16 of the 17 states with the highest levels of income inequality to rival Hillary Clinton.

“Well, because poor people don’t vote. I mean, that’s just a fact. That’s a sad reality of American society,” Sanders said, before pivoting to his talking points. “And that’s what we have to transform. We have one — as you know, one of the lowest voter turnouts of any major country on Earth.”

Sanders said his campaign had done a “good job” of including young people and has had “some success with lower income people.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Well, because poor people don’t vote.

    For you that is. Hillary won 16 of those 17 primaries and you’re going to blame poor people? I’ve a thought, Bernie; how about you blame yourself, and not everyone else for not winning those primaries?

  2. Avatar for cmj cmj says:

    No, Senator. They just didn’t vote for you.

  3. Bingo.

  4. In France they vote on Sunday. I bet an increase of 10% if we did. Poor people too!

  5. The turnout in this country has been very low for several election cycles, 2012 it was about 57.5% and 36% in 2014. So I’m going to guess that some affluent people aren’t turning out either.

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