US Election 2020: What gave Biden the edge over Sanders? | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
July 03, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JULY 03, 2022
What gave Biden the edge over Sanders?

Politics

Reuters
11 March, 2020, 10:50 am
Last modified: 11 March, 2020, 01:16 pm

Related News

  • Biden supports F-16 sale to Turkey, is confident about congressional approval
  • Biden unlikely to meet bold Democrat demands after abortion ruling, sources say
  • Biden suspends rules limiting immigrant arrest, deportation
  • Biden urges G7 to stay together as leaders target Russian gold, oil price
  • PM Hasina invites US President Joe Biden to visit Bangladesh

What gave Biden the edge over Sanders?

Biden outperformed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with key groups, suggesting that Sanders’ path to the nomination has narrowed

Reuters
11 March, 2020, 10:50 am
Last modified: 11 March, 2020, 01:16 pm
Democratic US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden appears at his Super Tuesday night rally in Los Angeles, California, US, March 3, 2020/ Reuters
Democratic US presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden appears at his Super Tuesday night rally in Los Angeles, California, US, March 3, 2020/ Reuters

Joe Biden was quickly declared the winner in nominating contests in Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi on Tuesday, giving him perhaps unstoppable momentum toward winning the Democratic nomination to challenge US President Donald Trump in November.

The former vice president's appeal to broad and diverse segments of Democratic voters cemented his victories over rival Bernie Sanders, according to exit polls and results.

In some cases, Biden outperformed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with key groups, suggesting that Sanders' path to the nomination has narrowed.

Here are some explanations for Biden's success on Tuesday:

A Gender Gap

Simply put, exit polls show Sanders has a woman problem.

As he did on Super Tuesday, Biden easily outpaced Sanders with female voters, part of the lifeblood of the Democratic Party. In Michigan, while Biden and Sanders were neck-and-neck among male voters, Biden dominated his opponent among women, according to the Edison Research exit polls.

In Michigan, Biden held about a 20-point advantage with all women. It bloomed to 30 points in Missouri. Already strong with black female voters, Biden showed appeal to white female voters as well, including those with and without a college degree, beating Sanders by double digits with both groups in those states.

In Michigan, Biden performed better among female voters against Sanders than Clinton had. In 2016, Clinton won over female voters by seven percentage points, according to exit polls. On Tuesday, polls showed Biden with 59% of that vote and Sanders garnering 36%.

Sanders may have been damaged by the perception that his base of support is largely young males who express themselves aggressively online, said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked for Clinton in 2016.

"There's been a lot of vitriol and misogyny," he said. "I think that probably hasn't helped him."

Sanders has disavowed his most abusive online supporters while defending the majority of his backers.

"We have over 10.6 million people on Twitter, and 99.9 percent of them are decent human beings," Sanders said at a recent debate.

On the campaign trail, female voters voiced anger over Sanders' protracted 2016 primary battle against Clinton, which they felt damaged her and the Democratic Party.

Sanders has largely shrugged off such criticism. "I don't want to relive 2016. We're in 2020 now," he said this week on Fox News Channel.

Working-Class Blues

Sanders' big advantage over Biden in Michigan and elsewhere was supposed to be with white, working-class voters – particularly men - who were drawn to his anti-corporate rhetoric and his call for universal healthcare.

But in Michigan, a heavy manufacturing state, Biden was evenly matched with Sanders among white men without a college degree, exit polls said. In 2016, Sanders hammered Clinton in that category, 57% to 42%.

Biden also beat out Sanders among union households, after Sanders had beaten Clinton among those voters four years ago. Biden made his support of the 2009 auto bailout that saved jobs in Michigan a central part of his pitch.

Joe Biden scores big Michigan win

Michael Ceraso, who worked for the Sanders campaign in 2016, said Sanders had become a less potent candidate this time around.

"His message doesn't quite resonate this cycle in the same way it did before," Ceraso said. "This election is about heart over head. Biden is the heart. Voters feel connected to him in a way that Clinton couldn't do."

Suburban Surge

In Michigan, Biden did especially well as compared to Clinton in the suburban counties surrounding Detroit, considered to be key battlegrounds in the general election against the Republican Trump.

The former vice president had double-digit leads over Sanders in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. Macomb voted for Trump over Clinton in the general election.

Suburban voters were key to Democratic efforts to win back moderate districts and seize control of the House of Representatives in 2018.

Projected turnout in Michigan was 1.7 million, up from 1.2 million in the 2016 primary, which could be good news for Biden in a matchup against Trump.

Trump's win over Clinton in Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes helped deliver his White House victory.

While Sanders has boasted that he could persuade more young voters and working class voters to show up at the polls, it has been Biden who has seen a wave of new support from suburbanites, particularly women.

"The surge has been with the centre-left of the party," rather than among the progressive wing, Payne said.

Crisis Management

As the spread of the new coronavirus has become a front-burner issue on the campaign trail, Biden seems to be the candidate who has benefited the most.

In Washington state, which also held a primary on Tuesday and is the US epicentre of the threat, Biden was the clear choice among voters who said they were concerned about the virus. Among those who described themselves as "very concerned," Biden, who spent 35 years in government as a senator and vice president, held a large advantage over Sanders.

Biden scores big early wins on Super Tuesday

In Michigan, when voters were asked which candidate they trusted more to handle a crisis, about half the voters surveyed picked Biden, while 32% chose Sanders.

Uniting The Country

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, continued to struggle with voters outside his ideological lane.

According to exit polls, only voters who described themselves as "very liberal" preferred Sanders. Voters who considered themselves "somewhat liberal" or moderate backed Biden in large numbers. In Missouri, 62% who said they are "somewhat liberal" supported Biden, and 72% of moderates supported Biden compared to just 19% for Sanders.

For voters whose top priority is to "unite the country" – a persistent Biden campaign theme – he was the stark favourite. In Michigan and Missouri, more than 80% said Biden was the best hope to bring people together. In Washington, it was six of 10 voters.

World+Biz / Top News

US Democrats / Joe Biden / US 2020 election / Democratic Primaries 2020 / Explainer

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Export earnings hit record high $52.08B in FY22
    Export earnings hit record high $52.08B in FY22
  • Remittance inflow down by 15% in FY22 
    Remittance inflow down by 15% in FY22 
  • Photo of Bangladesh Secretariat/Collected
    Govt stops purchasing new cars for ministries, departments

MOST VIEWED

  • Philippine president-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, attends a news conference at his headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines, May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David
    Hurdles ahead as Philippines' Marcos begins six-year presidency
  • FILE PHOTO: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks at a news conference on a proposed second referendum on Scottish independence, at Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/Pool
    Scotland's Sturgeon says mandate for independence vote stronger than it was for Brexit vote
  • A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
    Israel's Knesset set to dissolve by midnight triggering snap election
  • Photo: Collected
    Israeli parliament votes to dissolve, hold new elections
  • French President Emmanuel Macron gives a news conference at the end of a special meeting of the European Council in light of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium, February 25, 2022. Photo :Reuters
    Macron seeks allies as new French parliament opens
  • France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a news conference as part of the G5 Sahel summit on the situation in the Sahel region in Pau, France January 13, 2020. Guillaume Horcajuelo/Pool via Reuters
    Macron tasks French PM with new talks to form 'government of action'

Related News

  • Biden supports F-16 sale to Turkey, is confident about congressional approval
  • Biden unlikely to meet bold Democrat demands after abortion ruling, sources say
  • Biden suspends rules limiting immigrant arrest, deportation
  • Biden urges G7 to stay together as leaders target Russian gold, oil price
  • PM Hasina invites US President Joe Biden to visit Bangladesh

Features

A Glittery Eid

A Glittery Eid

7h | Mode
Rise’s target customers are people who crave to express themselves through what they wear, and their clothing line is not relegated to any age range.

Level up your Eid game with Rise

7h | Mode
Stefan Dercon, a Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and former Chief Economist of the Department of International Development (DFID). Illustration: TBS

Renewing the ‘elite bargain’ for Bangladesh’s future growth

10h | Panorama
The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

The eye-catching commuter: Suzuki Gixxer SF 155

1d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

Chirkutt performs on Fete de La Music Fest

Chirkutt performs on Fete de La Music Fest

9h | Videos
Madhuri Sanchita's seed ornaments exhibition

Madhuri Sanchita's seed ornaments exhibition

9h | Videos
Bangabandhu Tunnel to change lives of million

Bangabandhu Tunnel to change lives of million

21h | Videos
Sowari Ghat's fresh fish market

Sowari Ghat's fresh fish market

21h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
TBS Illustration
Education

Universities may launch online classes again after Eid

4
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

5
Photo: Collected
Economy

Tech startup ShopUp bags $65m in Series B4 funding

6
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Launch operators on various river routes see a steep drop in passengers after the opening of the the Padma Bridge. Photo: TBS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net