Election Shows US Democratic Voters Tired of Neoliberalism, Moving Left

It will be almost impossible now for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton's only rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, to win in New York, Sacks said. The analyst points out that the New York primary is closed, unlike that in Michigan, where Sanders won. Only registered Democrats are allowed to vote in a closed Democratic primary, and registration in New York must be completed many months prior to the primary vote. Because of these, and other, arcane election rules, Sanders may lose the support of one of his biggest blocks — independents not affiliated with either Democrats or Republicans.  

Yet, Sanders has been optimistic about the primary and predicted he would win. According to Sacks, the Senator's chances come with growing overall discontent within the Democratic Party's neoliberalism, an ideology that has long dominated US politics.

"The Democratic Party in the country, its politics, have moved so far to the right that he [Sanders] is out of place now, he's not a neoliberal." Sacks said.

Sanders is not a radical socialist, but he functions within the framework of traditional liberal US politics, pushing for public health care and public education. Those moves make him a target for corporate-owned media, resulting in resistance from the party establishment, Sacks asserts.

"I think him identifying as a socialist isn't harming him, that's actually an appeal to a lot of younger voters, and that's shocking to a lot of establishment political scientists who have grown up in the American system, in which ‘socialist' is such a bad word." He said. "Things are changing right now, and you see it in a lot of the states, a lot of Democratic primary voters are moving more and more to the left"

As for the Republican primary and its expected winner Donald Trump, Sacks suggests that the American oligarch is "so far in the game right now" that, even if he doesn't win the nomination, he will not give up.

"No matter what happens, the Republican Party is going to deal with Trump. It's just the matter of whether or not he is going to be the person leading the party, or a person playing spoilers as third party… destroying the Republican Party's chances this year," Sacks suggested.

Sacks stated that the current election cycle has been been the most unpredictable in decades, indicating the likelihood of a major ideological shift in the country.

"There's a lot of discontent with the two parties… It's just whether or not it all goes away after we nominate someone, what tends to happen a lot, or if it persists."