38% of California Democrats Want Sanders to Stay in ’Til Convention

While a majority — 53 percent — of California Democrats surveyed in a new Field Poll want Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to concede the race to presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, a significant 38 percent want him to stay in until the Democratic National Convention.

The DNC is a mere two-and-a-half weeks away on July 25, and despite the mainstream media’s crowning of Clinton as the presumptive nominee, Sanders has thus far remained faithful to his statements that he will remain in the race until the convention.

“Democrats under age 40 want Sanders to continue his campaign to the convention by a five-to-three margin. By contrast, nearly three times as many Democrats age 65 or older want the Vermont Senator to step aside now and throw his support to Clinton,” the Field Poll states.

Sanders supporters who gathered on the night of California’s June 7 primary election were enthusiastic for their candidate, with one telling Breitbart News that she hopes to see her pick push through for a contested convention.

Reports began appearing in the media on Thursday that Sanders would endorse Clinton ahead of the convention. The New York Times reported, “After three weeks of private preparations, Senator Bernie Sanders is expected to endorse Hillary Clinton on Tuesday at a campaign event in New Hampshire, according to three Democrats who have been involved in the planning.”

The poll of 956 likely California voters from throughout the state was conducted in six languages and dialects. A summary of results shows voters described as “conservative” supporting Clinton at a rate of 26 percent in a matchup between Trump and Clinton. A majority — 60 percent — of “conservative” voters expressed support for Trump, and another 14 percent stated they were “undecided.”

However, “conservative” was not defined in a summary of survey results, and for those identified as Republican, only 16 percent chose Clinton, compared to 72 percent that supported Trump in the head-to-head matchup.

Among all likely California voters surveyed in a Clinton-Trump matchup, 58 percent preferred Clinton, while 28 percent chose Trump and 15 percent remained “undecided.” When a third candidate, libertarian Gary Johnson, was added to the mix, Clinton’s favorability dropped to 50 percent and Trump’s to 26. Johnson received 10 percent support, and 14 percent stuck with their “undecided” status.

Trump has frequently expressed a warm welcome to any Sanders supporters looking for an alternative candidate to Clinton. Sanders has remained critical of Clinton. In early June he expressed serious concern over “conflict of interest” relationships between the Clinton Foundation and foreign governments, such as those revealed in Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash.

A Bloomberg Politics national poll released in June showed 40 percent of Sanders supporters would not vote for Clinton. 22 percent said they would vote for Trump, while 18 percent said they would vote for Johnson.

Some evidence of Sanders’s supporters resolve not to vote for Clinton was seen in the Nevada Democratic primary caucus, when three of 25 voters from Sen. Harry Reid’s home district refused to switch sides even at the coaxing of family members, knowing that their votes would not result in any delegates being selected from their precinct.

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