BackOpinion | Bernie Sanders’ second run is a tougher race
Popular polls suggest he is one of the favoured candidates in the field of Democrats seeking a presidential bid, but the 2020 scenario is vastly different from what it was in 2016
PremiumBernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and the 2016 Democratic primary runner-up, who had been widely credited with bringing socialism back into mainstream American politics and introducing an entire generation to left-leaning politics, is back. As he mounts a second presidential bid, there are doubts whether what worked for him in 2016 will work for him in 2020. To begin with, the ideas he espoused in his primary campaign in 2016, during which he mobilized Democrats by harping on policies like healthcare for all, a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges, have now become part of the policy fabric of the Democratic Party. Four years on, Sanders is clearly not the only progressive in town. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, all of whom are also seeking to run for president on a Democratic ticket, are getting a good response for some of the same themes. While Sanders and his policies were once the outliers, they—or at least most of his policies—have now been co-opted by the mainstream. The acceptance of these once-radical ideas has been made easier by the Trump presidency, notoriously known for advocating populist policies, while actually working towards an American oligarchy—a key feature where US policymaking has been dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, with the typical American having no voice. This has reinvigorated the concept of democratic socialism with millennials favouring socialism more than any other group in the US.
Sanders’ identification as a democratic socialist in 2016—when he was credited for bold proposals on healthcare, education, and economic, environmental and social challenges—became a defining aspect of his career. In his 2016 campaign, Sanders’ political identity made him an intellectually dynamic and exciting contender who addressed America’s anxieties and hopes. At a time when Americans were tiring of the political competition between right-wing dogma and centrist doublespeak, Sanders spoke a language that was understood by the people. Much like the Tea Party movement shaped the thinking within the Republican Party, the sway Sanders commanded over Democratic voters quickly had others in the party latch on to the same ideas.
Then, unlike in 2016, Sanders enters the race at a very different electoral moment. Here, he will no longer have to face only Hillary Clinton as a rival for the Democratic ticket, but he will face competition from progressives, including Warren and Gillibrand, who have broadly supported many of the social and economic positions he has advocated. Also, in the 2016 race, Sanders’ base was the young, idealistic voter; four years later, this generation will have moved on and he will have to find favour with a new lot of first-time voters. Popular polls show Sanders is the second most favoured candidate after Joe Biden, but he will have to do more this time around to differentiate himself from the rest of the pack. While in 2016, Sanders had the comfort of providing the liberal Democratic Party’s primary voters with a sharp contrast to Clinton’s political campaign, in 2020, with the party having broad-based its candidates across a diverse field, there won’t be a shortage of candidates for voters to choose from. Thus, it would be interesting to see what else the 77-year-old self-described Democratic socialist, who resurrected the idea of socialism—once considered off-limits in American political discourse—will bring to the table.
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