Why Joe Biden is Suddenly Running the Table on Bernie Sanders (And Yes, It's Partly About Hillary Again)

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | March 11, 2020 |

Let’s make this short and sweet because Joe Biden basically ran the table last night. Barring illness or a major f**k-up, Biden is going to be the nominee. Is it because Democrats love Joe Biden? I don’t think so. He’s fine. So why is he winning so overwhelmingly?

I think Biden and Bernie are, in some ways, ciphers for two sides of the party. It’s less about who they are than what they represent. Bernie represents systemic change, a radical revolution: Universal health care, free college tuition, and a $15 minimum wage. Around 68 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 44 voted for Bernie, and that should say something about how progressive and hungry for change younger voters are.



Sort of.



Because here’s the most staggering number I’ve seen from all the exit polls: People over the age of 45 make up 65 percent of the vote. That means that voters under the age of 45 are 35 percent of the vote. 35 PERCENT. And for the 18-29 demographic? It’s bout 13-14 percent. That is sad. You can’t have a revolution if nobody f**king revolts.

So, people over the age of 45 control the Democratic party. And you know what? People over the age of 45 are, by and large, more conservative and sexist. What we saw last night in Michigan and Missouri and Washington are a lot of 2016 Bernie voters showing up for Biden, which says for a lot of people, it wasn’t about Bernie. It was never about Bernie. It was about Hillary. They hated her, and they voted for Bernie to spite her. The good news is: A woman is not running against Trump, so all those people who rejected Clinton (and Warren) because she was an exceptionally qualified woman have no reason to vote for Trump this time around! The bad news? EVERYTHING ELSE. More than anything, this is what has been so dispiriting about this primary: To see this year’s best candidate lose to two old white men and then to see basically another referendum on Hillary Clinton in this year’s results. Yeah, we know, America: You really hated Hillary Clinton.

But the third factor, I think, is this: Bernie represents radical change and government upheaval. I don’t think that most people over the age of 45 — who, again, make up 65 percent of the electorate — have the appetite for that, not after four years of Trump’s upheaval. We have an insane person in the White House, and this insane person is getting people killed. While middle-class white people have been able to largely ride their privilege through the first three years of the Trump presidency, his handling of the coronavirus — and the threat of a recession — is actually affecting them now. They don’t want more change or upheaval. They want competence and stability. It used to be that the country would turn to Republican candidates for that (Eisenhower after World War II, Nixon during Vietnam), but the Republican party has proven itself to be incredibly unstable. So, they’re going with the Toaster Biden.

Biden is gonna win the nomination, and the way things are going, I think he’s gonna win in November in a rout. America just wants someone to stand inappropriately close them and hold their face, and Biden is their man. People keep saying that Biden is just gonna be a repeat of 2016, and you know what? That’s bullsh*t. People will overlook almost anything, but the one thing they won’t overlook is the gender of the candidate. Biden is a man, so the electorate will once again revert to the mean.

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

Header Image Source: Getty Images