I’m just going to keep saying this until it sinks in: An estimated 90% of Sanders supporters are voting for Clinton. You’re wasting your time on the other 10%. Stop wasting your time. As we are told over and over, this election is too important. So stop chasing ghosts and shadows, and do something productive.
90%. That is a very rare level of unity. Remember: in 2008, it was estimated that a mere 80-85% of Clinton supporters voted for President Obama. And that’s not to knock 2008 Clinton supporters; that was seen as a stunning and excellent show of unity.
So why is 90% of the Sanders supporters not good enough? If you say, “Because Trump,” may I direct your attention to the 50-something percent average voter turnout? Seems like a much bigger pool of potential voters in that other half to spend your time and energy on. Especially since they haven’t already sworn a blood oath never to vote for the nominee.
Bernie Sanders got 12 million votes. Ten percent of that is 1.2 million. The number of voter-aged people in the US who didn’t vote in 2012 (the latest year I could easily find to make the point) was over 100 million.
100 million versus 1.2 million. Which one sound like the bigger prize?
I know; it’s annoying when idiots heckle convention speakers. I know; that clown on your Facebook feed is super irritating. I know; you still have a lot of ruffled feathers that haven’t quite settled yet. But step back for just a second and listen to your own message: This election is too important. Too important to settle scores. Too important to waste time on 1% of the voters you should be pursuing. Too important for your energy to be wasted on people you have no chance of convincing, when you have a pool of voters a hundred times their size, whom you have an actual chance at convincing.
So stop wasting time and energy. Stop putting diaries that waste time and energy on the rec list. Stop writing open letters to people who would rather burn them than read them. Start looking at the bigger picture, and what you can do to make that bigger picture include President Hillary Clinton. Because this election is too important. Right?