Former Obama adviser: 'Not a chance' Sanders supporters vote for Trump

There is "not a chance" that supporters of Bernie Sanders will back Donald Trump in the general election, President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager said Monday.

"Oh, come on! There's not a chance someone who is going to vote for ... Bernie Sanders in a primary is then going to go to Donald Trump in a general election," Jim Messina said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe. "I promise you, that's not going to happen."


The late-primary dogfight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in 2016 is "pretty parallel" to that of Barack Obama and Clinton in 2008, Messina suggested. Not only that, but Clinton will benefit from Sanders' large crowds and enthusiastic young supporters.

Messina said "the question isn't what's going to happen now, it's going to be, what's going to be the day after the primary."

"People forget that [in 2008] Hillary Clinton flew to New Hampshire, endorsed Obama, and started campaigning for him very quickly," Messina recalled. "And so the question is how quickly Bernie will do that. And I think primaries are always difficult and everyone always freaks out, but this is going to be OK."

Asked whether he saw Sanders doing what Clinton did for Obama, Messina said he did.

"I think it's the right thing to do for the party and I think his supporters will look at Donald Trump and say, there's no way we’re going to allow this guy to become president of the United States," Messina said.

Rejecting the notion that the two races are different because Obama's supporters were largely already in the Democratic Party and Sanders has been able to draw more independents, Messina said that the party benefits from having more people in the process.

"And in the end, people are going to look at this election, and be very clear about the historic difference between the two campaigns," Messina said, "and I think it's going to help Hillary with turnout in the general election."