Originally Posted by perotista
Like everything else political, I think whether or not one views a candidate, a person as being charismatic is a personal opinion. For my purpose it was pitting candidate against candidate. How one's charismatic personality can attract voters to him that otherwise may not have voted for him.

The top four according to Larry Sabato was FDR, JFK, Reagan and Bill Clinton as having dynamic charismatic personalities. I'd have to add Obama to that list, while in my opinion, Obama had less charisma that those four. I was also talking about attracting voters from America as a whole, not just one's supporters.

Supporters of certain candidates are usually entranced by that candidate. But how that candidates fairs with those who aren't his avid supporters is where charisma comes into play, especially with independents, the non-affiliated voter.

I do think Sanders had more charisma than Biden, but we're talking about the Democratic primary voters. Less than a third of all voters nationwide. Sanders didn't have a chance to test those waters and to see if he could or couldn't attract the independent voter. He was tested only by Democrats for the most part although some independents did vote in the open primary states. The primaries are more about name recognition and political stances, ideology, party loyalist.

You haven't yet got into the battle for the less political, the less to non-partisan and non-affiliated voter. They haven't had a chance to weigh in yet.

There's no doubt in my mind that Biden isn't charismatic in the sense of a Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, JFK or even an Obama. But not being Trump may be enough. Hillary certainly wasn't, her personality wasn't the type to attract independents. Neither was Kerry or Gore, two statues. McCain didn't have it either nor Dole or G.H.W Bush. If you don't have it, you better hope you get matched up against someone with less charisma than you which happened in 1988, Bush vs. Dukakis, 1968 Nixon vs. Humphrey, 1976 Carter vs. Ford and so on.

Perhaps the most important thing is how a candidate and as president later on can connect with the people. Once again the best at this were the four Larry Sabato pointed out. FDR, JFK, Reagan and Bill Clinton. then in fifth place, I'd put Obama.

Correct. Bernie Sanders never had the opportunity to go through the screening of the entire population of American voters, yes. But taking back what I said to Greger, that's because he's a loser. He lost two primaries, one by 3.7 million votes to one of the worst candidates ever (in terms of charisma and campaign strategy), and is losing this one already by 3.4 million votes with 21 more contests to go.

But if he had the opportunity to run for the hearts and minds of non-Democratic-leaning independents and Repubicans, I frankly doubt that he'd get many more people. If on the left side of the spectrum he already didn't have sufficient traction, who do you expect would vote for him from the right side of the spectrum (the folks who think that socialism is a foul word)?

No, Bernie Sanders only excited a niche of ultra-progressive people in the Democratic side of the spectrum. Not even the more moderate Democrats like him, let alone the right-leaning voters.

But the thing is, sure, he didn't get to test his chances in a general presidential election (being the loser that he is), but we shouldn't even be talking about these chances any longer. Bernie Sanders won't run a third time in 2024. I doubt he'll even be alive by them, if the rumors about his cardiac ejection fraction are true.

Bernie Sanders right now is a has-been, and what was there to start with wasn't much.

History will look back at Bernie Sanders as a small blimp - an ineffective house representative and senator who never amounted to much while in federal office, and unsuccessfully ran twice for the presidential nomination, being soundly defeated both times.

The one thing Bernie Sanders will be remembered for, is that many of his followers helped Trump win the 2016 Electoral College, given that the number of Bernie or Bust defectors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin far exceeded Trump's narrow margin of victory in those states, as proven by a famous Newsweek Magazine article that has circulated widely in Politics forums.

Future History book entry on Bernie Sanders:

"Rather obscure House Representative and Senator from Vermont, who was in the bottom 4 of ineffective senators with a minimum number of bills passed, and unsuccessfully ran twice for the Democratic presidential nomination (despite being an independent), when he lost to Hillary Clinton by 3.7 million votes in 2016, and to Joseph Biden by 5.5 million votes in 2020. Bernie Sanders, a failed progressive with vacuous populist ideas that were soundly rejected at the time by 85% of the American public, had as only claim to fame, the fact that his Bernie or Bust movement was one of the various important factors that ensured Donald J. Trump's Electoral College victory in 2016, which ultimately determined the decline of Democracy and the Rule of Law in America, and the subsequent prolonged economic downturn (stemming from Trump's mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA) and loss of American influence and competitiveness around the world. Bernie Sanders was briefly the banner holder for the progressive movement in America, but his disastrous losses set back that movement for several years, as his aiding Trump resulted in a large number of conservative judicial nominations to federal courts and the Supreme Court, which hindered the progressive ideals for several decades. Shortly after the end of the 2020 campaign, Bernie Sanders died of congestive heart failure. In summary, he didn't accomplish much in his long political career, except for sinking the progressive movement, and helping Donald J. Trump get elected, which triggered the end of the so-called American empire."

That's about it. It summarizes very well the failed career of the loser known ad Bernie Sanders, and the damage that he inflicted upon his progressive followers and upon the rest of the nation and the world, by helping Trump get elected.

Please take COVID-19 seriously; don't panic but don't deny it; practice social distancing (stay 6ft from people); wash your hands a lot, don't touch your face, don't gather with too many people, so that you help us contain it.