I am an undecided Democratic voter – I have not made any choice about who to support. I honestly appreciate that you want to persuade those like me to support an alternative to Hillary (almost certainly Bernie). And I am willing to be persuaded – but in order to persuade me, you need to address what matters to me (and presumably, to people like me):
(1) Would Bernie be able to implement policies further to the left than Hillary
(2) Does Bernie have nearly the same chance of winning that she does?
I am unpersuaded by hyperbole-laden criticism of Hillary that implies she's an agent of the right wing or Wall Street, because I know what actual Republicans have done and what they are promising to do. But I am open to persuasion - if you can address my concerns.
I put a little more detail into my two questions below the squiggle
(1) What will be the degree of difference between policy results under Sanders vs. Clinton? Bernie's preference for policies that are to the left of Hillary will only matter if he can actually succeed in implementing something to the left of Hillary’s policy preferences. You can try to make the case that because he wants policies further to the left than Hillary he will try harder to implement them, but I am skeptical of that logic in terms of what actually will happen. We will still be dealing with the same Republican Party, with a reasonably strong penetration of Congress. Please provide a plausible rationale for how laws or executive actions under Sanders will be farther to the left than if Clinton were President. If there’s not much difference in what they actually can do, then all that matters is who is more electable
(2) Please convince me that Sanders has nearly the same chance of being elected as Hillary. In my mind, the gap between Bernie and Hillary is ~1/25th the gap between any of the Democrats and the Republicans. So if Hillary has ~51% chance of beating her Republican opponent, and you can make the case above that Bernie will be able to enact policies to the left of Hillary if he was elected, then I’d be willing to consider Bernie if you could show me that he has something like a 49% chance of winning. In other words, make the case that he has nearly the same odds of Hillary of being elected. And I am particularly concerned that the Republican media has not yet trashed him the way they would in the General Election campaign – if they can smear a decorated war veteran like Kerry, they will have a field day with Sanders. So given the level of opposition that a nominee Sanders would face, please lay out a plausible case for him to have a similar chance of winning the election.
I am also open to a case for Martin O'Malley or any other Democrat, all you have to do is address these two questions.