Speaking to AP on Tuesday former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders insisted that it would be “irresponsible” for his followers not to throw their weight behind Biden.
"I believe that it’s irresponsible for anybody to say, ‘Well, I disagree with Joe Biden – I disagree with Joe Biden! - and therefore I’m not going to be involved'", the Vermont senator emphasises.
However, earlier Bernie's former press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, made it clear that she wouldn't follow Sanders: "I supported Bernie Sanders because he backed ideas like Medicare for all, cancelling all student debt, and a wealth tax. Biden supports none of those", she explained.
Many of Bernie's Supporters Unlikely to Back Biden
"Bernie supporters are clearly disappointed with his decision, and according to a recent poll, at least 20% will not vote for Biden", says Vladimir Golstein, associate professor at Brown University in Rhode Island. "Bernie’s decision – as much as it is liked by the leadership of the Democratic Party – remains unpopular among Bernie’s supporters and independents; for these groups it looks like a surrender rather than compromise. For starters, many of Bernie’s supporters do not really like what the establishment wing of the Democratic Party stands for, and it is Biden who embodies this wing".
According to Golstein, "Biden’s policies would hardly differ from Clinton and Obama's neo-liberal approach to economics".
In an apparent attempt to appease Sanders' base, Biden has announced two policies: first, to lower the Medicare age from 65 to 60; second, to forgive student debt for low-income and middle-class individuals who have attended public colleges and universities. However, Bernie's supporters remain skeptical as it was Biden, who along with other 17 Democratic senators voted to strip students of bankruptcy protection in 2005. As The Guardian's Ed Pilkington notes, the legislation left millions in financial distress.
"Consequently, many people predict that this group of frustrated supporters of Bernie when joined by independents, who are tired of politically correct neo-liberalism, will be large enough to give Trump a victory in November", the academic foresees.
Max Parry, an independent American journalist and geopolitical analyst echoes the professor: while Bernie "sheep-dogged for the party again" Parry does not believe that the majority of his supporters will get behind Biden "after what has been a repeat of 2016's fraudulent manipulation of the democratic process against his candidacy".
"Even Bernie's campaign spokeswoman said she wouldn't endorse Biden necessarily", the journalist highlights. "Bernie submitted in 2016 with hardly a whimper of protest to back Hillary Clinton and when he instructed his followers to get behind his corrupt, war hawk corporatist opponent as he promised to do if he lost, many did not support her and I think this time even less will turn out for Biden because they are so disillusioned. What will be interesting to see is if he is willing to go on a state wide unity tour for Biden like he did for Hillary, who even after doing so threw him under the bus when she lost to Trump. It will be interesting to see if Bernie does so again".
Sanders' 'Medicare for All' & COVID-19 Crisis
Although the Vermont senator's decision to drop out appeared predictable, Parry underscores that he was surprised "at how early the decision came in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis and economic recession, especially since Sanders was still positioning himself at the forefront of the Democratic response to the pandemic while Joe Biden was notably MIA for almost a full week to the point where #WhereisJoeBiden was even trending on social media".
Sanders' decision to lay down arms came at the time when his Medicare for all programme was lauded by his supporters amid the coronavirus pandemic in the US with skyrocketing numbers of cases and deaths.
According to Golstein, Sanders’ proposals to modify the US healthcare system should have made his candidacy more appealing to Democrats and independents as "COVID-19 has highlighted the urgent need to modify the antiquated and unfair medical system".
The academic deems that psychologically, Bernie’s decision is quite understandable: "He does not like Trump much more than he does not like what Biden stands for", Golstein notes. "So in his hope to unseat Trump, Bernie has made the logical decision to join Biden".
For their part, the Democratic establishment and media pundits were all the way claiming "that Bernie is too extreme, that he won’t win, that Biden would provide stability and decency and he is the logical choice to beat Trump in November".
So, "for a number of reasons the Democratic voters have decided to go back to Biden", the academic elaborates. "For some, it was the proximity to the much admired Obama, for others, it was the issue of electability".
According to Parry, "it was so transparent the way the entire party coordinated against [Sanders] at the DNC's direction, from the timing of Buttigieg and Klobuchar's withdrawal to Warren's decision to stay in which prevented him from winning nearly every state on Super Tuesday".
"Make no mistake that was orchestrated and deliberate", the journalist stresses. "They knew in 2016 and they know now that if Sanders were the nominee, he would have a shot at beating Trump and certainly more than Biden as numerous polls indicate. They rigged the intra-party charade against him and he fell in line again".
'Dems' Calculation Was Totally Wrong'
However, by forcing Bernie out and rolling out the red carpet for Joe Biden the Democrats have made a mistake, Golstein believes.
"In my view, that was a totally wrong calculation", he says. "By many parameters, Biden is one of the weakest candidates to emerge from the Democratic Party in recent years. Trump’s extreme unpopularity among Democratic voters does not translate into general unpopularity. Both Republicans and many independents would find him a stronger candidate of the two. At least, he is a known entity with a record that many find satisfying. By siding with Biden during the recent primaries. Democratic voters have chosen Trump for another four years of presidency".
For his part, Max Parry opines that "after 2016 it appears likely the Democratic Party establishment would rather lose to Trump than embrace even the most modest social democratic reforms that Sanders campaigned on".
Now it all depends on whether Bernie's base will be able to force the presumptive Democratic nominee into making concessions, according to the journalist.
"In many respects, the crisis will help [Biden] get away from this because people are immobilised", he says. "They can't go out in the street in protest. We have no idea when the Democratic convention will really be. We will have to see what happens when the economy reopens and how people react to the easing of restrictions. Maybe when things are relaxed, voters will pressure Biden to make concessions".