After seeing polling trends continue to rise for Bernie Sanders, it seems as though Hillary Clinton has become more aggressive in ‘attacking’ Sanders throughout the last couple weeks. Don’t say this too loud, but a note to the Clinton camp, if they intend to get more aggressive: Going negative on Bernie Sanders has never worked and has always backfired on his opponents. After reading a few biographies, Outsider in the White House & Why Bernie Sanders Matters, which tell the history of Bernie Sanders and his previous elections, I’ve deduced this firm conclusion.

Bernie Sanders is seen as an anti-politician because he has a long history of being an Independent, doesn’t look or act like a politician, and spouts ideas that don’t instantly appear as ‘mainstream’. However, if you look at Sanders’ history, you will see he has already participated in 20 elections throughout his life. You read that right. Twenty elections. Now, he did not win all of these (14/20), but batting .700 is pretty good.

After reading about the outcomes of these twenty elections, it was clear that whenever a Sanders’ opponent would go negative against him, it would backfire and Sanders would end up winning the election.

A few excerpts from the books when Sanders won after negative attacks: