Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Bernie’s Michigan Primary Win: Spotlight on Media Lies, Reality, and Strategy

Dipto Islam, March 9, 2016 


Michigan says it wants a revolution by voting Bernie the winner. Bernie Sanders won Michigan Democratic primary in a tight race proving all the poll predictions wrong. High voter turnout confirmed his victory. His strategy of unmasking Hillary Clinton's past support for trade policies that killed US jobs proved fruitful. 



Sanders narrowly won Michigan Democratic primary bagging 65 delegates, while Hillary got 58 delegates. He defeated Clinton by less than 2% margin (49.9% vs. 48.2%) with 99% of precincts reporting. Sanders got a total vote of 590, 386, while Clinton got 570,949. Michigan Democratic primary was a delegate jackpot of 147 delegates. It was the largest amount of delegates for the taking since Super Tuesday. After Michigan primary total delegate count stands at Clinton 760 and Sanders 546.

Michigan result followed the usual patterns: Sanders won younger ones, while Clinton did better among older voters. Clinton won black voters over Sanders 65-30. However, that's not nearly as strong as her performance among black voters in some Southern states. In Michigan primary, Sanders was able to cut into Clinton’s consistent edge with black voters. Exit polls suggested Sanders won three in 10 African Americans in Michigan, his best showing so far. In southern states, Clinton enjoyed as high as 90% black voters support. This indicates that Clinton’s black voter advantage is declining.  

“I just want to thank the people of Michigan who repudiated the polls, who repudiated the pundits,” Sanders said in an impromptu 11 PM news conference. “The people’s revolution, the political revolution we’re talking about is strong in every part of the country.” He said record breaking turnout was behind the success.


Before the primary Sanders said, “if there is a large turnout, we are going to win here in Michigan.” Voter turnout was historic high compared to any other time. Voter turnout was 1,161,335 in 2016 compared to the closest of its kind 601,219 in 2008. Turnout of other years are nowhere near. ABC

The result is indeed an upset for Clinton and her trumpeters in the media who propagate that Sanders is unelectable. The result is also a proof of manipulated poll results that showed a Clinton average lead of 21%. Fox, ARG, and Monmouth polls conducted March 3- March 7, all showed a big Clinton lead. All these polls had a margin of error of 4% to 6%. The actual result shows that their margin of error was in fact more than 21%. All Democratic national latest poll results show a Clinton average lead of 11%. Michigan result hints that how erroneous, misleading, or manipulated these poll results could be.

Despite continued media blackout and misinformation feeding against Sanders by major main stream media, a Sanders’ victory in Michigan hints that public is growing impatient with media lies and they have started to defy media control over their thought process. 

“I just want to thank the people of Michigan who repudiated the polls, who repudiated the pundits,” Sanders said in an impromptu 11 PM news conference. “The people’s revolution, the political revolution we’re talking about is strong in every part of the country.”

Sanders’ Michigan win may prove that his strategy was successful. Sanders had blasted Clinton on trade in Michigan. He had targeted Clinton's past support for trade policies like NAFTA and the Obama administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership. He pointed out to the voters that such trade pacts killed or would kill the kinds of manufacturing jobs that many Michiganders have.


 “She was very, very wrong, and millions of families around this country have been suffering as a result of those disastrous trade agreements,” he said in a gathering of Michigan workers who talked about how they lost their jobs to expanded trade. Sanders accused Clinton of siding with big business and Wall Street.  

More than half of Democratic and Republican voters in Michigan, along with Republicans in Mississippi, said trade takes away jobs, according to surveys of voters after they cast ballots. In exit polls, the majority of Michigan Democratic voters (56 percent) said they think trade takes away U.S. jobs, and Sanders was strong among those voters, with 56 percent of their vote.

Sanders’ Michigan win offers evidence that his message of fighting for blue-collar workers and opposing free-trade deals can resonate—and with big-delegate Rust Belt state Ohio coming up on the primary calendar on March 15, he will soon have the opportunity to employ that message again. Expect to see the Sanders camp amplify the trade message. 

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