Question

Back in 2015-2016, both Sanders and Trump were able to win primaries even though a majority of the Democratic and Republican political establishment opposed them. Why was that? What was it about these candidates that allowed them to so successfully run against the establishment of their parties? Does it say something about their competition as well?

Answer 1

Both Sanders and Trump were able to win primaries despite the establishment opposing them because of a few reasons. These are shown below-

· They had support of the card-caring members of the parties- It is obvious that people who register as democrat or Republican lean farther left and right, respectively, than people who are not registered as either and hence these people are more ideologically driven. As these people are more ideologically driven and are able to vote in primaries, it stands to reason that they will support a more leftist and rightist person, as compared to a standard central platform party member. Sanders is a far leftist socialist. On the other hand, Trump is at extreme right. Hence, both of them captured the imagination of the registered democrat and republican voters far more effectively.

· In continuation to the above point, the other choices were party members who were more center and hence, were seen as part of the establishment. The people wanted someone who clearly echoed their thoughts, not someone who was neither here nor there on most of the issues and tended to give politically correct answers. Once again, they found these in Sanders and Trump.

Of course it also says a lot about the competition. The competition was considered part of establishment- the same people ruling over with the same ideas that have been in vogue for decades now. Every candidate sounded and spoke the same. The competitors didn’t enthuse the voters. They wanted to be centrist and politically correct and hence it felt like they didn’t stand for anything. This led to Sanders and Trump being clear standouts to the public.