Sen. Bernie Sanders D-Vt., came to the defense of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's supporters Saturday in a series of tweets, saying that it was unfair to say they were motivated by hatred or malice.

"I do not believe that most of the people who are thinking about voting for Mr. Trump are racist or sexist," Sanders said in a tweet.

In follow-up tweets, Sanders added, "Some are, but I think most are people who are hurting, they're worried about their kids, they're working longer hours for lower wages" and, "Our job is to reach out to Trump voters to tell them that we're going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just a few."

Numerous Democrats and liberal leaders have said that the Trump has used racist and hateful language to rally his supporters, with the clear implication that those voters respond to that sort of thing.

Sanders, while he has been harshly critical of Trump, has been careful to say during the campaign that the GOP nominee's supporters have legitimate gripes about the current economy.