Polls Week Ten

Polls

It seems as though Clinton is leading Sanders when it comes to favorability polls. Sanders is 51% favorable while Clinton is 76% favorable, giving her a 25% lead. Though, when it comes to those who do not favor these candidates Clinton is still ahead with 18% unfavorable polls and Sanders at 14%. Which is great on his part!

Sanders is also behind when it comes familiarity ratings as Clinton has 94 points and Sanders with only 65. Though, he has made a 5 point increase since October, meaning that he still has hope!

Sources: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/262082-poll-clinton-grows-net-favorability-over-sanders

Person of the Year?

It's not necessarily uncommon for a president to win an award for being the "Best Man of the Year" or anything along those lines, but what is uncommon, as it has never happened before, is a candidate winning TIME's Person of the Year Award while their campaign isn't even finished yet. In the TIME Person of the Year award polls, Bernie is steadily rising in the polls, and is holding a strong and firm lead ahead of many of this year's more influential figures. The polls end on the 6th, and it'll be interesting to see as to who wins.

Source: http://time.com/4134801/bernie-sanders-time-person-of-the-year-poll-lead/

Sander's "Humane" Immigration Agenda

Sanders announced his "humane" immigration agenda that is similair to O'Malley both candiates want to:

a. "expand executive action to include all those who would have qualified for the Senate's 2013 immigration-reform bill".

b. "curb programs that ask local police to cooperate with the federal government's enforcement of immigration violations".

c. "curtail the use of immigration detention".



Bernie Sanders specifically aims to: 

1)  Stop "9 million" undocumented immigrants from being deported; for the time being.

2)  Extend Obama's deferred action to five year citizens eligible for relief.

3)  End local law enforcement agency's "enforcement of federal immigration policy".

4)  Law support for immigration workers who need protection against labor abuse/violation(s).

5)  Create "future legislation that declares DREAMers immediately... eligible for: military service, federal financial aid, in-state tuition(even if a state hasn't passed it's own in-state tuition bill for undocumented students). 







http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-spells-out-his-immigration-plan/

Week 9 Polls

Polls

Sander's polls haven't seemed to change much in Iowa as he has 42% of the Democratic caucus-goers' support. While Clinton has been lingering around half of the voters as she is currently standing at 51%.

This is probably due to the 85% of survey takers who believe Clinton has a better chance of winning against a Republican candidate while only 54% believe that Sanders' would do so. Nevertheless, 47% thought that Sanders was a more ideal choice in handling our nation's economy while 42% said that Clinton would. Not only that, but 89% of the participants supporting Sanders thought of him as a trustworthy and honest candidate while 66% of Clinton's supporters thought she was trustworthy and honest. But, most of the people, a staggering 95%, believed Clinton had the best kind of experience needed in order to be president.

According to Peter Brown, an assistant director to the Quinnipiac University Poll, the only way Clinton could loose the nomination would be if she "drops the early Iowa and new Hampshire contests to Sen. Sanders, who then might become the 'momentum' candidate."

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/25/politics/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa/

Newsworthy: Mom Cancel The Trip To Wally World !

Sanders seems to disapprove of anything starting with Wal-...
On this black Friday he was much less concerned with getting a low priced flat screen HD TV and more concerned with the employees selling them.
Sanders who is an advocate for the low wage man angrily tweeted a series of posts a few hours ago that argued " @Walmart shouldn't be allowed to pay workers wages so low that many qualify for Medicaid, food stamps, and government housing." As one of America's biggest corporations Sanders believes that Walmart heirs - who own more wealth than the bottom 42% of Americans - shouldn't be provided welfare from working families.
Is this a random allegation or did Sanders just say what everyone else was thinking but too afraid to voice or too busy pushing people out of the way for the last legoland set?

www.bretbart.com/big-government/2015/11/27/bernie-sanders-attacks-walmart-black-friday/

Newsworthy: M.C Bernie ?

This upcoming Monday will wrap up Sanders' two day ATL visit. Ever since the Paris attacks most of the political conversation has focused on national security and has left Sanders struggling to "find his footing" besides his stance on Wall Street bank separation and income equality.
At 7 p.m rapper 'Killer Mike' (real name: Michael Render)  will open for Sanders at the Fox Theater. Render is a local political activist emphasizing the criminal justice reform and even shortly had a write-in candidacy for state House this past summer. Clinton seems to have Georgia's democratic establishment on lock so hopefully the event will give Sanders substantial quantitative results.
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/11/20/bernie-sanders-sets-rally-in-atlanta-on-monday/

Polls Update: Highest Support To Date !

According to NBC Sanders is now the preferred candidate of 33% of Democratic/Independent leaning democratic voters.
Hillary's still surpassing by 16 points. And even though Sanders has gained 3 points since last month's poll we have to keep in mind that its still within the poll's error estimate of +/- 3.1% points.
O'Malley still struggles to make an improvement in the democratic polls despite two national debate show exposures.




From this graph below we can assume that:
- Sanders maintains a strong lead among young voters
- Clinton stills lead the white vote by 3 points, 6 points among men & 9 points among college graduates.


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-hillary-clinton-holds-steady-support-among-democrats-n466641

Bernie Sanders... A Hypocrite ?

www.cnn.com/2015/11/politics/bernie-sanders-super-pac-nurses-union/index.html

Bernie Sanders has been supported by a super PAC , but wait, isn't that a little contradicting to his previous stances on the corrupt nature of the campaign finance and fundraising system?
The super PAC: National Nurses United For Patient Protection Spent $ 569,000 backing Sanders in his presidential run since August. How can Sanders stick to a non- super PAC pledge if he himself is supported by the first national union to endorse an presidential election ? Most of Bernie's supporters say they like him because of his anti-super PAC financing stance how will they react ? Bernie's team responded that they were flattered but they do not have a super PAC, don't want a super-PAC and wont in the future either. How can they explain the support then ? Michael Lightly ( the nurses union political director) disagreed and explained that the National Nurses United For Patient Protection is not actually a super PAC. He says " It was set up originally under the pre-citizen United rules, so it is not a super PAC". On the other hand the FEC declares that it is in fact a super PAC it doesn't matter that it happened to be established in 2009 one year before the 2012 U.S Supreme Court decision to proliferate super PACs. In response the Union said that they "exists to protect nurse and patients and, no other candidate has better amplified the critical issues nurses have voiced for many years than Sanders, we are proud to support Sanders and will continue to do so."

Sanders Ahead of Clinton In New Hampshire Poll

thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/260698-sanders-ahead-of-clinton-in-new-hamphire-poll

According to FOX news, Sanders has 45% support and Hillary has 44% support, but we must keep in mind that the slight difference is still in the 5.5% margin or error.(sample representation)

-Among younger voters(under 45):
Sanders: 59%
Clinton: 30%

(Is this unusual because more young people would more likely want the glass ceiling to be broken for different types of people, since we are the generation of diversity tolerance and acceptance?)

Democratic "Socialism" & Polls Update

http://www.inquisitr.com/2575139/bernie-sanders-polls-sanders-hoping-to-make-up-ground-on-clinton-with-speech-defining-democratic-socialism/

Sanders is losing ground in the polls he is now behind Hillary who has 51% of the democratic vote while he has 33.5% of the democratic vote and slightly ahead of O'Malley still struggling to find his voice better yet supporters. His most recent attempt to make up ground on Clinton is his speech defining his self- defined democratic socialism. He defined it as: "having a government which represents all people, rather than just the wealthiest people, which is most often the case right now in this country". Can America change from a Plutocracy to this democratic socialism?

Issue Position: Second Amendment

Sanders publicly announced that he strongly believes that there needs to be restrictions on gun purchasing including extensive background checks even more so than currently. He finds it absurd and completely unnecessary that the are AK47's and machine guns on America's streets when they are weapons of war and need only to be used for such not available for the masses and their disposal.

Issue Position: Opinion on Wall Street & The Campaign Finance System

Sanders has a very strong opinion about wall street and monopoly banks. He wishes to end corporate loopholes so corporations will actually pay federal taxes instead of turning a blind eye to bankers who hide millions in foreign bank accounts. As for wall street , he believes we as the American people have bailed them out before so now they can bail us out and help make college free. He also believes that his opponent Hilary, who has fundraising support from wall street, is too close and it can lead to policy input and is ultimately the exact reason why campaign fundraising and consequently the political process is so corrupt. He believes similar to Teddy Roosevelt that we must break up the banks and encourage credit unions as the future of America. Bernie has also admitted that although he has many supporters they happen to be lower income/ middle/low class that donate about $30 on average. On the positive side he declares that he therefore is not in debt or will be influenced to any super PAC's that will expect future favors unlike his opponent who can be compromised.He also believes similar to O'Malley that a new updated version of Glass Steagall should be established which could help end crony capitalism. As for wall street advisers, Sanders very strongly declared he would have absolutely none in his cabinet.

Issue Position: Fiscal Policy

Sanders really emphasizes finance reform in areas that need updating and adjustments, first is the military. Sanders wants a more cost effective reform increasing and upgrading: intelligence, fighting international terrorists and manpower. Secondly, Sanders wants to make public college debt free similar to the other democratic candidates. Also, to increase social security benefits and spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure especially in areas of low income and poverty.

Issue Position: Stance on Accepting Syrian Refugees and Other Middle East Affairs.

Sanders is a big supporter of globalism and reminds America that it is our moral responsibility to help those countries in need who cannot do so for themselves. He was also very against the Iraq war and despite the fact that his colleague and competitor Hillary voted for it. He says its a major correlation with the ISIS uprising/ development and is actually "the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of the United States of America".

Issue Position: Biggest threat on national security?

Sanders still holds his belief that climate change is the biggest threat to national security. he believes it leads to the growth of terrorism. To further explain, terrorists groups have a sense of entitlement can go invade other countries when their supply gets low , stealing what they lack such as water for agricultural crops,etc and end up bullying for their resources like a school bully taking a younger child's lunch everyday.

Issue Position: Stance on ISIS

Sanders states that we need to "rid the planet" of the ISIS terrorist group. He believes we cannot do it alone, we need the middle east and Muslim countries to lead. In other words they can no longer continue to host and protect terrorists out of fear and intimidation and expect America to go in blind they must fight with us.

Issue Position: Sander's "Political Revolution"

Sanders has established his political platform which some may say is radical but he is admitting unapologetic. His platform includes:
1. Breaking up the banks, wall street
2. Joining all types of people together and globalism
3. Requiring wealthy people to pay fair shares of taxes
4. Rebuilding infrastructure
5. Raising the minimum wage to a "living wage" ($15/hr)
6. Ending the corrupt campaign finance system
7. Making public college debt free
8. Making healthcare a right not a privilege.

Sanders' Performance More Convincing in Second Debate

While the reaction to the first democratic debate was mixed, with many major commentators believing hillary showed the best perfomance, senator sanders seems to have outshone his competition in the second democratic debate on Saturday. A wall street journal poll reports that 44% of democrats felt that the senator won the debate, while only 32% felt the debate went better for hillary. This wide margin is rather surprising, seeing as some of the margin has to come out of hillary's own followership.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/wsj-survey-44-of-democrats-think-bernie-sanders-won-debate-1447609672

Inching Forward Little By Little

Polls

It seems as though Bernie Sanders is still left in the dust of Clinton's massive takeoff. Though, his polls have increased slowly since he first began in the month of November with an average RCP poll of 27% but has now inched forward 6% to today's poll, where he stands at 33%. Which is 19% less than Clinton's staggering 52%.

The New York Times and CBS News released a series of polls demonstrating democrat's opinion on both Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. According to their polls 62% of the democratic primary voters believe that Clinton would make a real change in Washington while 51% say that Sanders would do so. They also have another poll stating that 24% of these democratic voters believe that Hilary Clinton would be more likely to get her policies enacted as president, 57% say she is somewhat likely, while 17% say that she is not very likely to get such policies enacted. Whereas, 8% think that Sanders would be more likely to get his policies going, 63% say that he is somewhat likely, and 24% say he is not likely to do so. As mentioned in an earlier post, many people are unhappy with the way that the government is working, and they want to see changes. Which, according to the statistics, more people feel as though it is possible with Hilary Clinton. Even though Sanders has a higher percentage of people who believe he could probably get his policies enacted, Clinton has the upper hand when it comes to confident followers. In fact, she has the upper hand in most of the polls released by CBS News and The New York Times. Thus, explaining why she leading Sanders.

Nevertheless, The New York Times states that Bernie Sanders may have more room to grow as long as he could find a way to win over the 50% of democratic voters who feel as though it is too early to tell who to fully support in this election.

New Positions

As of today Sanders does not seem to have any significant new positions.

Challenges

According to The New York Times' article Bernie Sanders needs to find way to make his left wing approach into one with a broad appeal that is more acceptable for the democratic majority. He will have to find a way to do this during the upcoming debate on Saturday night.

Sources

RCP Average: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.html

CBS News/The New York Times Poll: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-hillary-clinton-bests-sanders-as-the-democrats-change-candidate/

Challenge/polls: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/11/12/poll-shows-hillary-clinton-maintaining-lead-over-sanders/

As Momentum in the Polls Stalls, Sanders Campaign Goes on the Offensive

In the wake of the first democratic primary debate, and with Joe Biden confirming his non-candidacy and Caffee and Webb dropping out, the last couple weeks should have been tumultuous for all candidates from a polling perspective. Instead, we watched Clinton maintain or gradually increase share of the vote, relative to Senator Sanders. Sanders' Iowa prospects have all but evaporated, and what was once a commanding lead in New Hampshire has narrowed to a single percentage point. In national polling clinton has maintained around a 20 point lead on the Senator.

Times of increased uncertainty, in any competition, are always the most nerve wracking for those who are in the lead. The Clinton campaign, with the candidate to beat, has emerged from the latest round of unknowns not profoundly stronger than before, but not profoundly weaker either.

With a stagnating campaign, well behind in most polls, the burden is on Sanders to renew the uncertainty. This appears to be exactly what his campaign is doing.

A series of moves by the Sanders campaign have unfolded in the last week. A 2 million dollar ad buy took place, and adds began airing tuesday in Iowa and New Hampshire. Additionally, while early in the campaign Senator Sanders expresses a disinterest in directly attacking Hillary Clinton, recent statements have walked a thin line between compare and contrast exercises and outright negativity. Lastly, and significantly, the senator, who is often admired for having championed the same issues for his entire political career, has taken a relatively new position in the last week. On Wednesday, Bernie Sanders filed a bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. While almost all experts agree that US drug law, particularly around marijuana, is due for reform, the timing of this aggressive stance form the senator seems to suggest that the move is largely an appeal to young liberal voters, who, more than any other demographic, support legalization. This same demographic happens to be a large part of the Senator's political base.

It is yet to be seen how Sander's new intensity will affect polls. He is certainly fulfilling his tactical burden in this moment though: to keep things interesting, and insodoing keep his campaign alive. given time and effort, or alternately or much of anything unforeseen, momentum may well swing back towards the presidential longshot, who is very much still in the race, and seems to plan on sticking around.

-Newsworthy Moment and Challenges-

Over the week, voters and news agencies have begun to question as to whether or not Bernie Sanders is sexist. In a recent event, Clinton had quoted a moment in which Bernie made a comment about her "shouting" about gun violence, in which case she replied by saying, "It's just, when women talk, some people think we are shouting." It is still up in the air as to whether he really is sexist or not, but the controversy being caused by this may end up becoming a challenge for Sanders to face in the weeks to come. 

Source: http://www.npr.org/2015/11/01/453663625/is-it-fair-to-accuse-bernie-sanders-of-sexism

Lagging Behind

Week Six Polls

It looks like Sanders has been staying steady as Clinton reaches 50% support. Sander's remains at 30%, trailing Clinton by 20 points. Although, there are a few different polls that have been showing numbers as low as 25.5% for Bernie Sanders at this point.

Some seem to be wondering what will happen to Bernie Sander's "army of young voters" if he looses. It seems as though Sanders relies rather heavily on voters that are between the ages of 18 to 45 years old. A good 45% of the voters under 34 years old have a positive view of Bernie Sanders, but he seems to especially catch the eye of younger voters who are currently upset with the government. According to NBCNews about 50% of democrat leaning voters are not satisfied with the federal government, along with another fourth who are clearly upset. 43% of these unhappy voters support Sanders, giving him the upper hand to Clinton who only has the support of 38% of these voters. Even though younger voters haven't contributed much to the primary vote, as those above the age of forty tend to make up 67% of the primary vote, it seems as though in the past couple of elections younger voters have been slowly gaining more power.

Despite these polls, Sanders hasn't seemed to have lost spirit.  13ABC News reports Sanders shrugging off the low polls, quite literally, saying, "...poll numbers go up and they go down."  If what he says is true, then there is always hope for Sanders' future polls.

Sources: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-hillary-clinton-hits-fifty-percent-support-n454556 

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/30/if-bernie-sanders-loses-what-happens-to-his-army-of-young-voters/

http://www.13abc.com/home/headlines/Exclusive-Bernie-Sanders-shrugs-off-lagging-poll-numbers-337790981.html

Bernie Sanders' Position on Guns

"Bernie Sanders believes that gun control is largely a state issue because attitudes and actions with regards to firearms differ greatly between rural and urban communities. Nevertheless, Bernie believes there are situations where the federal government should intervene. He voted in favor of requiring background checks to prevent firearms from getting into the hands of felons and the mentally ill, passing a federal ban on assault weapons, and closing loopholes which allows private sellers at gun shows and on the internet to sell to individuals without background checks."

Source:
Bernie Sanders on Gun Policy
http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-gun-policy/

Fundraising: Week of October 19

While solid fundraising statistics have not arisen since the Q3 reports released weeks ago; Bernie Sander's fundraising style continues to garner attention and inspire optimism. Both in absolute tern and relative to his primary challenger, Hillary Clinton, Sanders is fundraising via numerous small donations. For example, according to Q3 reports, Sanders and Clinton have raised comparable total sums: both around 27 million dollars over 4 months. However, A majority of Clinton's donation money, $16 million dollars to be exact, has come in the form of "max-out" donations, meaning the donor contributed the maximum amount allowed by law. Sanders, on the other hand, has raised less than a million through these max-out donations. One way that this information has been interpreted optimistically for Sanders is that it means almost all of his donors are able to contribute again in the future: perhaps lending long term power to the ongoing fundraising campaign.

Sanders Gains Ground

Polls

It seems as though the gap between Clinton and Sanders has slimmed down to a fine 7% with Hilary Clinton at 48% and Sanders catching up with 41%.  Their chances seemed to have increased after their impressive performance during the debate along with Joe Biden's departure, leaving his supporters turning to other candidates, such as Sanders, for alternatives.

Though, it seems as though Sanders has encountered an issue among many democrats, including his own supporters.  His position on guns.  Sanders acts in the interest of gun owners, which seems to be an unpopular stance in the democratic wing.  As mentioned in an earlier post, he advocates that America should close the loopholes in gun legislation, ban assault weapons, and increase mental healthcare in order to prevent gun involved crimes that have been happening much more than ever. According to the article, Iowa Poll: Gap Tightens Between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, 46% of Sanders' own supporters, along with about 60% of the Democratic causcusgoers, are troubled by his gun views.  Thus, posing a possible challenge for his future.

Sources:  Iowa Poll: Gap Tightens Between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/10/22/iowa-poll-clinton-up-gap-tightens/74375360/

Week Three Review

Polling

According to polls that were released on Friday, it seems as though Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are at a close tie. Surprisingly, the debate brought Clinton in front of Sanders in the state of New Hampshire, with Clinton leading at 37% and Sanders following at a close 35%.

This sudden rise in polls is probably due to the two's performances during the recent Democratic Debate.  Most of the democratic poll declared that Clinton had won the debate while a little less than a quarter believed that Sanders won, instead.  Though, there has been some controversy on this topic as several news agencies have reported that CNN had tampered with their polls and created a pro-Clinton agenda by deleting pro-Sanders comments and polls.  Thus, making Clinton the unstoppable winner of their polls.

Fundraising

Nevertheless, Sanders seems to have had an increase in his fundraising during the third quarter. Philip Bump's article, Bernie Sanders's Vast Universe of Donors, Mapped, states that the amount of locations that Sander's gathers his donations from has multiplied since the second quarter. Earlier, he was only receiving money from about 3,400 different ZIP codes, but now it has grown to a staggering 8,400 ZIP codes from all around the country. With his quickly expanding donor pool, Sanders will have a bright future as he has many people to rely on for the growing number of donations needed for his campaigning.

Sources:

Polling: Rebecca Shabad's Poll: Clinton Deadlocked with Sanders in New Hampshire http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-clinton-deadlocked-with-sanders-in-new-hampshire/

CNN's suspected trickery: Elizabeth Miller's CNN Deletes Pro-Bernie Sanders Poll and User Comments http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/10/15/cnn-deletes-pro-bernie-sanders-poll-and-user-comments/

Fundraising: Philip Bump's Bernie Sanders's Vast Universe of Donors, Mapped
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/16/bernie-sanderss-vast-universe-of-donors-mapped/ 

Foreign Policy

Ever since Bernie Sanders has been asked more often on the topic of foreign policy, people have been left with more questions than answers. Instead of answering questions posed to him by critics and others, he has been giving us answers, but not ones that answer the questions being posed, such as questions on what he would do differently than Hillary Clinton about Syria, or when he would use offensive force. This has been inspiring controversy among supporters and non-supporters, leading some to question exactly how prepared he is to take the role of president.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/bernie-sanders-democrats-foreign-policy/410917/

Polling

The latest national polling data, from October 5th, has remained fairly steady over the last week. Sanders trails Clinton by 16 points. Polling has also been fairly stagnant in the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire. While Sanders possesses a nine point lead in New Hampshire, and is expected by many to win the state, he still trails Hillary by six points in Iowa. Some, including myself, predicted that this week would be more tumultuous given the gun debate made present by the recent tragedy in oregon. However, this does not appear to be the case.

Fundraising

New numbers on fundraising have been relatively scare in the wake of major milestones being accomplished last week. Sanders continues to raise money from a wide and shallow donor pool, collecting hundreds of thousands of small donations and being unwilling to accept large donations. Many pundits have speculated as to the staying power of this fundraising strategy, though Sanders appears committed. Even for a recently announced LA fundraising event, Sanders has set a cap, at $2700, for large donations, which pales in comparison to the multi million dollar contributions received by almost every other major contender for the presidency.* While this strategy seems risky, it carries with it a second constituent part that is already showing itself prominently in places like New Hampshire: an organized task force of volunteers. If Sanders has a weakness in fundraising ability, he also has a strength in grassroots organization. How these elements interact and balance is still to be seen.

Looking Forward

Next Tuesday, Anderson Cooper will host the first democratic primary debate. This will be the defining event in next week's political movements for Sanders. In the lead up to the debates, candidates typically enter a rigorous process of preparation. Alternatively, Sanders has opted for a less formal strategy, instead the senator began being coached for the debates earlier this week at the behest of his primary aids. Bernie Sanders seems to believe that he is prepared to present his ideals to a very large audience for the first time-- doing exactly what he has been for 30 years, with more people listening. 

*Correction Necessary. The $2700 cap is a legal limit on campaign contributions. This is often circumvented via the use of super PACs, to which unlimited contributions may be made. However, super PAC contributions are distinct from direct contributions to a candidate. While it is true that Sanders has publicly denounced the use of super PACs, and does not appear to be supported by any currently, the $2700 contribution limit above is was not put in place by the Sanders campaign.

Bernie Sanders' Call to Action After Horrifying Shooting

    "...We have got to do something.  We have to stop shouting at each other..."

Once again, devastation hits another American school.  On the first day of October a shooting broke out at Umpqua Community College, leaving the country to watch headlines in utter horror as the death toll rose to ten.
  Bernie Sanders addressed this tragedy several times on an interview with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and through several Facebook posts.  As quoted on one of his Facebook posts, he, along with fellow Americans, are, "horrified by these never-ending mass shootings."  Bernie Sanders declares that we must stop "shouting at each other", we must stop arguing and pointing fingers, and find a way to put an end to these ever-more constant and senseless shootings.  Instead of fighting with each other, he wishes that we would eliminate the loopholes in gun legislation in order to make sure that, "guns should not be in the hands of people who should not have them", which would include those who have criminal records or are mentally ill.  Not only that, but he believes that weapons that were specifically designed to kill people shouldn't even be handed out to the public.  Though, in order to keep the guns out of the hands of those who should not have them we need a much stronger background check system.  As for those with mental illnesses, he calls for America to significantly improve their mental health facilities' abilities to aid those who are in need of psychological help.  His last appeal is to lower the amount of surprising violence that is portrayed throughout America's media, in effort to keep it from happening again.

Sources:
Interview with MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sanders-reacts-to-ore-campus-shooting-536939587812 
Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders/posts/10154265638527908

Sanders: Week In Review

Bernie Sanders is strong through the week of the September 28; campaign instability to come, for better or worse.

Polling

The latest national polling data available, from September 30, shows Bernie Sanders tracking steadily behind Hillary Clinton. While national polling data shows Hillary Clinton with a 14 percent lead over the senator, in the key early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, The race is very much alive. Sanders trails Clinton by only three and a half percent in Iowa, and leads the democratic front-runner by nine percent in New Hampshire. Wins in these states early in the primary process would give the Senator significant momentum moving into later primary competitions, a type of energy which the sander's campaign has shown an uncanny ability to capitalize on. If sanders can prove early that he is a powerful contender in the primary contest, and show supporters that he has a strong chance in a general election, many Clinton supporters may abandon their safe-bet candidate for the more radical idealist. This type of exedous from the Clinton camp could produce a primary landslide with energy sufficient to have implications in the general election. On the other hand, a share of Sanders' supporters may be willing to jump ship for a safer bet at a democratic presidency if the campaign, once considered a long shot, shows signs its losing steam.

The Washington Post's Attack; Liberal Journalism's Rebuttal

Yesterday the Washington Post leveled an attack against the Sanders Campaign, specifically criticizing the feasibility of actualizing Sanders' goal of free college education for all Americans. The article is framed to echo long abandoned anti-socialist rhetoric dating back from the cold war period, frequently using words like "bureaucracy" and "control". The substance of the article is a speculative critique of the difficulties involved in allocating federal funds to public universities, and it points out significant inefficiencies in the status-quo, where federal funding of this type is minimal. It argues, intuitively, that these bureaucratic problems will be magnified by an influx of federal dollars, and that inefficiency will eat away at taxpayer money and inflate already high cost of the proposition. However, in a Huffington Post article, Robert Reich fires back. He reminds readers that in the 1960's and 70's, federal and state funding of public institutions made up for a large share of their costs, tuition was low, and American education thrived. In the 1980's, this funding started drying up, and ever since, tuition has been skyrocketing. We now refer often to both our education crisis and our student debt crisis. The author also pointed out that in lue of government funding, private corporations sometimes step in to fill voids in public college's budgets, often in exchange for having say in the curriculum. This point counters and outweighs the Washington Post's fears of government controlled curriculum even before Reich provides an example of corporate controlled and approved economic curriculum. While The Washington Post's article served as a well framed attack on the Senator, its language may contain more punch than the substance behind it. Before a rebuttal was in place, the Washington post article appeared speculative and oversold, though not devoid of reason for legitimate concern. However, when the substantive layer is rebutted and analysed in depth, only the framing of the arguments continues to be of any consequence.

Fundraising Milestones Boost Confidence

A significant source of campaign news early in this week was Bernie Sanders' significant fundraising haul. Sanders became the first candidate of the election to reach one million individual campaign contributions, with small donor contributions being a staple of the campaign. Sander's third quarter contributions also rivaled, though did not match, those of Hillary Clinton, who is seen to have the support of the democratic establishment and much more "big money" support. In a final comparison, Sanders, who's campaign has many parallels to Obama's 2008 campaign, has now raised more money to date than had Barrack Obama's at this time in 2007. Sanders frequently campaigns on his unwillingness to accept corporate contributions, and pledges to reform the campaign finance system. To see a candidate raise competitive funds without violating his own convictions about the corruption of campaign finance is a hopeful sign to many who support Sanders' ideas on the issue.

Looking Forward: an Inevitable, Disgusting, Debate on Guns

In light of the recent tragedy in Oregon, politicians of all parties will be forced to address the issue of gun control, as it is currently framed in the national spectrum. This will affect the pull of candidates' campaigns, however morbid it may be to calculate political effects of a killing. Bernie Sanders' statements on this issue, as well as his poll movement, will be interesting to watch. The Vermont Senator doesn't take the hard left, activist anti gun positions of other democrats, and as of yet has not shown any willingness to pander. As a senator of a primarily rural state, and as one who is in fact quite popular with the conservative portion of his constituency, his approach to gun control is much more nuanced than the polarizing approaches debated about in the political spotlight. While he advocates closing loopholes that allow criminals and the mentally ill to obtain weapons, the Senator has also defended the rural hunting lifestyle. This moderate and tempered approach is likely in line with what a majority of Americans want to see. However, in the days after a shooting, other democratic hopefuls may be willing to make bold statements on gun control that sanders cannot match. How Sanders' base will react to the senator appearing to be on the conservative side of the democratic field on this issue is yet to be seen, though it may be an uncomfortable position for some liberal activists within his base, I believe that an overwhelming majority will be satisfied with Sanders' long held, more moderate gun positions, about which he has always been transparent. There has also long been talk of a subset of the republican party coming to support Bernie Sanders for his social libertarianism. A failure to give in to political pressure to condemn gun ownership may help the candidate with this constituency in the general election.