Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, March 7, 2016, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

(Charlie Neibergall)

"Who are these people?" Ken Goldstein finds himself wondering. "Are they at the grocery store? Are they sitting next to me at Dodger Stadium? That makes me nervous."

Goldstein, a Los Angeles e-commerce consultant and Democrat, is talking about Donald Trump supporters. He's not alone. The Washington Post calls it "Trump anxiety," and it's spreading.

Yes, times are tough. Much of America has not recovered from the Great Recession and might never recover, as technology and globalization kill off entire ways of life. Still, a lot of Americans didn't realize their fellow citizens were so angry, so willing to throw away social mores and embrace name-calling in a desperate attempt to make America -- to make themselves -- great again.

To which an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey has an answer: start ringing doorbells for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Trump won the Michigan Republican primary on Tuesday, and Sanders won the state's Democratic primary. But unlike Trump in the GOP race, Sanders remains very much the underdog in the battle for his party's nomination. Thanks to the support of party insiders who are super-delegates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead.

To be sure, super-delegates can change their minds. And if the NBC/WSJ survey is correct, maybe they should. If, that is, the goal is to make sure Trump does not ever set up residence in the White House.

The survey indicates that Clinton would beat Trump in a general election by 51 percent to 38 percent. That looks promising for Democrats, but with Clinton barely scoring a majority, it certainly leaves room for the real-estate magnate to pull off a come-from-behind win by cranking down on his outrage meter in the fall.

Sanders, on the other hand, completely overwhelms Trump in the survey, 55 percent to 37 percent. The survey's margin of error is less than 3 percent.

Why would a self-described democratic socialist do better in a general election than a middle-of-the-road Democrat who has proven experience "working across the aisle"?

Perhaps because Sanders taps into the same voter outrage as Trump; he just comes at it from a different angle, focusing on the "rigged" economic and political system rather than on illegal immigrants and the dummy international trade negotiators in the Obama administration. He thus could potentially do something that not many observers believe Clinton could manage: woo away some of Trump's supporters.

"Who are these people?" Ken Goldstein probably will still find himself wondering at the grocery store in the fall. But he might not be as nervous about it if Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee.

-- Douglas Perry