Democratic Primaries

VOTER Survey respondents in 2011 who became Sanders supporters in 2016 were no more likely than people who went on to support Clinton to favor government-provided health care or tax increases on the wealthy, although they were somewhat less likely to favor government regulation of business, virtually the same on trade policy. The difference was that Sanders supporters were more pessimistic about the economy. Sanders did better among those who had less trust in the government, more likely to agree with the statement, "People like me don't have any say about what the government does."

The difference between Biden and Sanders supporters isn't policy, but identities grounded in partisanship and race. A fight between a centrist and a progressive, as Sanders says it is, isn't real.