The two leaders of the American left have shown no signs of coalescing after the disastrous 2016 elections. On "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders responded to Hillary Clinton's criticism that he failed to bring his supporters to the polls in the general election.
Host Chuck Todd asked Sanders to react to Clinton's recent book tour, in which she has taken shots at the Independent senator. Sanders scoffed at Todd's question, insisting that he did not agree with Clinton's scrutiny.
"Let me just say this, I worked as hard as I could after endorsing Hillary Clinton," Sanders said. "I went all over this country. And I would remind people, you know, people say, 'Well, not everybody who voted for Bernie ended up voting for Hillary.' No kidding. That's what happens in politics."
"If my memory is correct, in 2008, something like 24 percent of people who voted for Hillary ended up voting for John McCain," he added.
According to an analysis done by The Washington Post, Sanders' estimate holds true. Based on data from a YouGov survey that interviewed respondents multiple times during the 2008 campaign, 24 percent of people who supported Clinton in the primary reported voting for McCain in the general election. Comparatively, The Post estimated that 6 to 12 percent of Sanders supporters voted for Trump in the general.
While the chasm in the Democratic Party appears wider than ever, Sanders insisted he and his allies in Congress were pushing a progressive agenda together.
"Right now we are focusing on health care, we are focus on the DACA issue, we are focusing on infrastructure, high cost of prescription drugs. I don't think it is useful to go backwards. I think we got to go forward," he said.
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