Bernie Sanders’s presidential bid was not a failure because it inspired millions of people and dramatically shifted the political discourse, veteran activist and academic Noam Chomsky has claimed.

With his campaign very much on the back foot and trailing Joe Biden in delegates by some measure, Mr Sanders, 78, said he could not in good conscience continue, given the limited likelihood of turning things around and when people were rightly focussing on combating the pandemic.

Among those to heap praise on Mr Sanders was Mr Chomsky, a renowned progressive intellectual and linguist, who said the campaign was not a failure.

“It’s common to say now that the Sanders campaign failed. I think that’s a mistake,” the 91-year-old told Democracy Now.

Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Show all 18 1 /18 Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Jessica Canicosa, a precinct captain for Bernie Sanders, waits to greet caucus voters at Liberty High School in Henderson, Nevada REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Hotel workers at the Bellagio in Las Vegas get to grips with voting papers during the Nevada caucuses AFP via Getty Images Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A caricature of Bernie Sanders is projected on to a tree during a rally in Las Vegas EPA Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A woman waits to have a photo taken with Elizabeth Warren during a town hall meeting in Las Vegas REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures The threat of coronavirus and other germ-borne illnesses was on some voters' minds at the Democratic caucuses in Henderson, Nevada Getty Images Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Former vice-president Joe Biden takes a selfie with a voter in Las Vegas ahead of the Nevada caucuses REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Amy Klobuchar changes her shoes backstage after giving a speech in Exeter, New Hampshire AFP/Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A warmly-wrapped-up dog attends an Elizabeth Warren event at Amherst Elementary School in Nashua, New Hampshire AFP/Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Bernie Sanders, who romped to victory in New Hampshire against Hillary Clinton in 2016, talks to the media in Manchester Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Joe Biden was hoping to improve on his poor showing in Iowa in the New Hampshire primary Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren, renowned for giving time to supporters for selfies, works the crowd at the University of New Hampshire in Durham Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Joe Biden takes a selfie with a supporter and his child outside a campaign event in Somersworth, New Hampshire on 5 February Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders quarrel after a confrontation in a TV debate in which Sanders claimed that Warren was not telling the truth about a conversation in which she claimed he had said a woman could not win the presidency on 14 January AP Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Supporter Pat Provencher listens to Pete Buttigieg in Laconia, New Hampshire on 4 February Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire while awaiting the results of the Iowa caucus Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren is presented with a balloon effigy of herself at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire on 5 February Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A Trump supporter rides past a rally for Amy Klobuchar in Des Moines, Iowa on 14 January AP Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A man holds up a sign criticising billionaires in the presidential race in front of Michael Bloomberg in Compton, Califronia. The former New York mayor skipped the first caucus in Iowa and instead campaigned in California on 3 February Reuters

“I think it was an extraordinary success, [and] completely shifted the arena of debate and discussion. Issues that were unthinkable a couple years ago are now right in the middle of attention.”

He added: “The worst crime he committed, in the eyes of the establishment, is not the policy he’s proposing; it’s the fact that he was able to inspire popular movements, which had already been developing — Occupy, Black Lives Matter, many others — and turn them into an activist movement, which doesn’t just show up every couple years to push a leader and then go home, but applies constant pressure, constant activism and so on.”

Many commentators have pointed out that because of Mr Sanders’s success and the way he especially inspired young voters – he won the primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada – visually every Democratic candidate was obliged to have their own policies on topics such as climate change, greater accessibly to healthcare, and criminal justice reform.

As it, Mr Sanders has said his name will remain on the ballot in the primaries remaining and he will continue to collect and accrue. He said this was a deliberate tactic to try and put pressure on the committee that agrees the party’s official policy platform this summer.

Noam Chomsky says the Republican party is the most dangerous organisation in human history

Mr Chomsky said if Donald Trump were elected it would be an “indescribable disaster”.

“It means that the policies of the past four years, which have been extremely destructive to the American population, to the world, will be continued and probably accelerated,” he said.

“What this is going to mean for health is bad enough. I just mentioned the Lancet figures. It will get worse. What this means for the environment or the threat of nuclear war, which no one is talking about but is extremely serious, is indescribable.”

He said he assumed a Biden presidency would be a continuation of former president Barack Obama’s administration “nothing very great, but at least not totally destructive, and opportunities for an organised public to change what is being done, to impose pressures”.

He said if Mr Biden, 77, were elected Mr Sanders and his supporters could continue to seek to put that pressure on him.

Aware that he will need the backing and votes on Mr Sanders’s supporters if he is to defeat Mr Trump in November, Mr Biden immediately paid tribute to the senator after he suspended his campaign. In a statement directed at those who had so vigorously supported the veteran democratic socialist, he also said: “I see you, I hear you.”

On Thursday, in what was seen as another nod to the progressives he need to win over, he unveiled two new proposals he said would help ease the “economic burden on working people”.

These were a proposed lowering of the age eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60 and eliminating student debt for some lower-income families.