By all polling data Bernie would actually blow Trump out of the water. More than Hillary, if I recall correctly.
It makes sense. People right now are going to vote against the establishment (so Bernie or Trump) but primarily against the rich.
People don't vote *for* anything in America, because it's literally a wasted vote unless it's the 2 real candidates. Though the Republican party is continuing to fracture, and progressives are growing increasingly distant from the Democrats, so maybe, *maybe* we will finally have a proper multi-party system as the founders intended. In a few election cycles.
Also I'd much prefer Bernie for the record, or Clinton. They're pretty close. Trump just speaks to a part of me that wants radical, isolationist change. Because while I'm mostly progressive, I do put our own citizens first. That's what a government is FOR, and it's what all but the most "enlightened" (aka established and rotten) governments do. Iran isn't considering how best to serve American immigrants.
But mostly I do want a government that embraces modern efficiency by granting a living wage, universal health care, and properly regulating industry. I don't think we're entitled to it, but it's safest way to handle the modern era.
Having a Trump-Sanders general election competition would be a hell of a thing, for one, they are both on the extremes of their wings.
One has to ask, where the heck is the moderate/centrist candidate? Since the two parties are pulling away from the center and making the average curve look like it has two peaks instead of the one it's supposed to have.
There is no centrist, only a
false disappointing dichotomy.
Edit: As usual when discussing politics, the quote from Indefensible Positions is apt:
The system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it was designed for.