Dangerous divide could be warning to Democrats

EditorialFebruary 1, 2016Leave a Comment

AP Photo/J. David Ake

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hugs his wife Jane after a campaign rally at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016.

The Iowa Democratic and Republican party precinct caucuses occurred Monday and are noteworthy for the amount of media attention they receive during the U.S. presidential election.

Since 1972, the Iowa caucus has had a 43 percent success rate at predicting which Democratic candidate wins along with a 50 percent success rate at predicting which Republican candidate will go on to win the nomination of their political party.

However, a big set back for the Democratic party will, ultimately, be itself.

Supporters of both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are quick to take to social media to argue if you don’t #feelthebern or agree with Clinton’s choice to whip and nae nae on every stage.

With so many Republicans running in their party it is easy for people to stay out of feuds to watch the downward spiral of the Democratic party.

The Democrats have a near 50/50 split with Sanders and Clinton, which would result in a dramatic loss of votes if they can’t find a way to get over their differences and realize the better outcome for their party is to not get in Twitter feuds.

It’s enough of a feud to make you think the losing side will stay home in November and not support the winner of the nomination.

The elections of 2010 and 2014 are a good example of a time this happened previously. Democrats lost both houses of Congress because their voters were on comedowns from the recent high of putting Obama in the White House.

Fourteen million fewer Democrats voted for Senate candidates in 2014 than in 2008 while the Republicans dropped only six hundred million. That 42 percent drop in turnout allowed the GOP to take over the Senate.

The 2014 election also saw the Republican majority increase in the House to its largest since World War II.

The bitterness that resides within the backings of the Democratic party hopefully won’t blind them from looking at the bigger picture. Whether a Republican or Democrat wins, it is imperative for the parties to realize it will take more than just the backings of one candidate to win an election.