Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0
Bernie lost big and Hillary won big. That's the easy story of the New York primary. The future for both candidates is a story in motion. It's time for Senator Sanders to meet Secretary Clinton anew, and get back to respecting each other instead of fighting. The focus needs to be on November.
Constituencies and demographics matter in election victories, and New York’s primary has the potential to show the real benefit of Bernie Sanders joining forces with Hillary Clinton to win the Presidential election. Exit polls show Sanders continued strength with millennials, but Hillary won those over 30 years of age. Not just those over 65. She had the overwhelmingly support of women and minorities, and all voters no matter the income level.
We've watched Sanders increase the velocity of tone and attacks on Secretary Clinton as he's continued to focus on his key issues of income inequality, Wall Street, free college education and universal healthcare. But his specifics on the issues remain foggy, and hers do not. Some kind of meeting of the minds presents an interesting order. Not an easy one, but an increasingly important one.
Sander’s rousing calls for a revolution have met the more pragmatic Hillary Clinton. He's gotten her to move more to the left than when she started her campaign. But he has stayed where he began - the candidate of economic populism. In a state as diverse as New York, the election results show its limited appeal.
The Sanders’s crowds are filled with young people looking to get involved in the political system, and that's one of the most positive things we’ve seen in this entire political season. At this point, showing young people the benefit of being a leader who understands the importance of crossing different political aisles to achieve victory could be a lasting positive. Divide and conquer is no longer working for him.
Perhaps an impromptu conversation I had on a park bench yesterday, my personal exit poll, is a predictor of things that could come. The 29-year- old young man sitting next to me with his dog told me he was from New York. I asked if he had voted, and he said, "I sent in an absentee ballot and voted for Sanders, but after I sent it I began to realize I should have voted for Hillary. He's still not coming up with answers."
Clinton set the tone for her campaign going forward, reaching out to Sanders supporters in her acceptance speech. "There's much more that unites us than divides us."