Just six months ago, more than 20,000 Bernie Sanders supporters flooded Washington Square. But with a few weeks until election, Bernie supporters are ready to join Clinton in the battle against Trump.
Here at The New School Free Press, we wanted to hear from those Bernie supporters. What we found was that most former Bernie supporters that we spoke to are ready to support Clinton.
“I will be voting for Hillary Clinton,” said Deborah Buzuayehu, a current 21-year-old Parsons student.
Michael Parker, Lang graduate and former member of Brooklyn for Bernie, will be voting for Clinton as well. Parker saw Bernie as an ideal candidate because of his economic policies, but similar to other students, he doesn’t really keep up with Bernie in the media anymore. “Bernie has faded, that’s inevitable,” Parker said. “We hardly hear from other candidates who have dropped out, or are no longer running.”
Buzuayehu, who will be voting for Clinton, also does not keep up with Bernie because he’s no longer a presidential candidate.
Former Bernie supporters, Ellen Rust and Andrew Shoreibah, both Lang students, are also voting for Clinton. However, they weren’t always team Clinton.
The Bernie supporters we spoke to saw Bernie as a great candidate because Bernie broke barriers with his radical economic policies, his stance on student debt, and his views on climate change.
Shoreibah said, “[Bernie] was principled, consistent, and honest.”
“[Bernie] recognized that life in America is unfair…” Buzuayehu said. “Although some of Bernie’s promises were somewhat far from reachable, they were what all Americans dreamed [of]. Bernie’s vision for America is what America should be like.”
Yet it’s been a long time since Clinton and Bernie shared a stage, battling against each other for the party nomination. Now just weeks away from the election, the Bernie supporters we spoke to have already reconciled their wounds over his loss, and are standing with Her. Bernie himself officially endorsed Clinton back in July at a rally in New Hampshire. “I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States,” Bernie said.
Bernie’s vigorously attempting to sway his supporters to vote for Clinton. He’s even campaigning for Clinton in Minnesota and Iowa, in addition to campaigning for her twice in New Hampshire. Clinton needs to get all the Bernie supporters she can get, considering a September YouGov poll indicated that only 51% of Bernie supporters are standing with Clinton.
Some New School Bernie supporters have spoken: Clinton wasn’t their ideal candidate to begin with, but now they’re voting for her because they don’t want Trump to be president. She’s the lesser of two evils, they say..
Shoreibah was originally undecided after Bernie lost the nomination. “I was uncertain at first because of [Clinton’s] trust and judgment,” Shoreibah said. But the power of Trump’s erratic behavior during the debate was enough to persuade Shoreibah to vote for Clinton. “After hearing Trump’s extremely ignorant remarks during the debate, it’s kinda hard not to vote for Clinton,” Shoreibah continued. “Clinton has questionable judgment but Donald Trump has no judgment.”
Rust, a first-time voter and Cincinnati native said, “I am voting for Hillary Clinton as my home state of Ohio is a swing state. I cannot let Trump win my home state.” Rust clarified she would vote for Gary Johnson if Ohio wasn’t a swing state. Rust now stands with Clinton.
From Feeling the Bern to nursing their battle wounds of defeat and standing with Her, some Bernie supporters are coming together, even if Clinton wasn’t their first pick. Perhaps it’s because, as Rust puts it, “It gives hope to situations like this one where you feel you are voting for the lesser of two evils.”
Photo by Julia Himmel