Bernie Sanders Diagnoses Their ‘Big Problem: ‘No Surprise’

Late. Bernie Sanders, the independent who has represented Vermont since 2007 and twice run for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered an honest diagnosis of the Democrats’ electoral mistakes on Tuesday.

“A Democratic Party that has abandoned working class people would find the working class abandoning them,” Sanders said in a statement. “First it was the white working class, now it’s also Latino and black workers. While Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

Exit polls showed that a historic number of black and Latino men voted for the Republican nominee, President-elect Donald Trump.

While 74% of black male voters cast ballots for Harris on Tuesday, Trump won an estimated 24% of the demographic, according to AP voting. For comparison, data published by Pew Research After the 2020 election, Trump showed that Trump only won about 8% of black male voters in the last election.

ONE CNN exit poll indicated that Trump won as much as 42% of Latino voters — the most successful Republican performance with the demographic since George W. Bush won about 44% of Hispanic voters in 2004, according to Pew Research data.

Sanders noted that major economic factors likely influenced the working-class vote on Tuesday, including stagnant wages due to inflation, the threat of automation from AI and robotics, and high costs of health care and prescription drugs. He also called out the party leadership for not listening to voters concerned about Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza – which cost Harris votes in crucial swing states like Michigan.

“Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck,” Sanders said. According to one CNBC poll published earlier this year, over 65% of respondents said they were living paycheck to paycheck by 2023. Research published by Bank of America Institute last month showed that at least a quarter of American households spent most of their paychecks each month.

The Vermont senator speculated that the Democratic Party “probably won’t” learn any lessons about winning back the support of working-class voters, but also seemed to hint at his own future plans.

“In the coming weeks and months, those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice will need to have some very serious policy discussions,” he wrote. “Stay updated.”