Rather than assign blame, Sanders needs to tone down the rhetoric to ensure a Democratic victory

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Sanders: “Poor people don’t vote”

Senator blames small low-income voter turnout for Hillary Clinton’s lead

In a revealing revelation, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blamed “poor people” for Hillary Clinton’s lead over him in the Democratic primary process.

"Poor people don't vote," Sanders said on NBC's ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. "I mean that's just a fact." 

This is borne out by U.S. Census data:

Sanders went on to say, "In America today, the last election in 2014, 80 percent of poor people did not vote."

"If we can significantly increase voter turnout so that low income people and working people and young people participated in the political process, if we got a voter turnout of 75 percent, this country would be radically transformed," Sanders says.

Sanders, of course, somewhat distorted the voter turnout issue by quoting 2014, an off-year election. Turnout in off-year elections is typically as much as 20-percentage points lower across all income levels than in presidential elections.

And while his goal of 75 percent turnout is admirable, without fundamental structural changes, it is unlikely to happen in an America where overall voter turnout has never reached more than 65 percent.

Given the populist nature of Sanders’ campaign, the fact that even he couldn’t energize “poor people” to go to the polls suggests that there is a more existential problem to voter turnout:

• Voter ID laws and impediments to registering to vote – Despite almost no evidence of in-person voter fraud, voter ID laws have proliferated in Republican-controlled states affecting a disproportionate number of poor, elderly, young adults and minority voters.
• Missing work – Elections are typically held on a work day when time off to vote often equals losing money
• Long lines – Long lines to vote result in the potential of losing more money with studies suggesting that voters in precincts with more minorities and poorer voters had longer wait times and less resources at polling locations
• Education and political engagement – U.S. Census data indicates that less than 40% of those without a high school diploma reported voting in 2012. That's compared with a 77% turnout among those with bachelor's degree or higher. And a Pew Research Center report stated that "financial security is strongly correlated with nearly every measure of political engagement."

So, rather than single-minded railing about a “corrupt campaign” finance system (a critical problem that clearly needs fixing but which, like voter suppression, can only be changed with a Democratic president and Congress), isn't it time for Senator Sanders to tone down his dubious anti-Clinton rhetoric and begin the process of ensuring that Clinton is supported loudly and unequivocally?