Senator Bernie Sanders is becoming more and more "electable" by the day. The most recent polls from Fox News put him at 39 percent in the Democratic nomination against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 54 percent. Coupled with the recent polls finding Sanders faring better in match ups than Secretary Clinton, it is still a wonder that mainstream media seemingly continues to ignore his success against the Clinton behemoth. The real story, however, is the amount of support Sanders aficionados are able to generate.
An undeniably huge part of the Sanders campaign finds itself at his campaign subreddit--a subgroup of the popular social media site Reddit--that has so far raised over $750,000 through its own community. The community is currently involved in an effort to secure a Moveon.org endorsement for the Vermont Senator.
However, as is inevitable with a large community of people on a social media site, there have been some ugly actions taken by Sanders supporters. Indeed, one of the biggest criticisms of the Senator's campaign is the levels to which his supporters go to spread his name, whether through positive or negative means. Google autocompletion for "sanders supporters" includes the phrases "are annoying" and "stupid." In an age of digital life, it seems as though every social media site has been taken over by the Sanders campaign, with both positive and negative results.
Senator Sanders has generated incredibly active and passionate supporters among the youth demographics. To many, these people are seen as naïve and, to use Google's terminology, "stupid." However, in considering which candidate to support come election day, remember that votes are given to supporters, but to people who want to change the world.