The closer someone gets to the Presidency, the more scrutiny the public usually puts them under. Bernie Sanders isn’t escaping that as his favorables continue to plummet among the general public.

In 2016, it was often assumed that he would have beaten Trump because he consistently polled higher. His favorable rating was 59% when he ended his campaign against Clinton. What’s often not mentioned is that Sanders was mostly left alone by Hillary. She took care of him behind the scenes by gaming the DNC, not by exposing his old videos praising the Soviet Union or talking about what a nutjob he is in regards to socialism.

A new CNN poll shows he’s now dropped well below 50%.

Our new CNN poll puts Sanders favorable rating at 46% compared to an unfavorable rating of 45% among registered voters. This is only the latest poll to have Sanders at basically even in his net favorability rating (favorable-unfavorable). A Quinnipiac University poll from late December gave the Vermont senator a net favorability of just +2 points. An average of all recent polls put Sanders’ net favorability at about -1 points.

What’s changed? The exposition of his policies to the daylight. He’s no longer seen as the old, harmless dude with no real shot at winning and zany ideas. Now that he’s 2nd in the Democratic race, his socialist nightmare is becoming all too real to many Americans.

What all this means is that even if he wins the nomination, it’s no longer conventional wisdom that he’ll be much more popular than President Trump. What happens when those old videos and the failures of his socialist ideals are made even more front and center?

In the end, he’s already got an uphill battle even in the primary. Why? Because he’s old and white. When he was running against a geriatric with the charisma of a turnip in 2016, he stood out as a revolutionary alternative to younger voters. Now, all the candidates are embracing Medicare for All, among other stupid socialist dreams, and his support is fracturing. Even if he does make it through, I expect the general public to reject the insanity that he’ll be pitching. At least they better if we want to preserve any semblance of normal American life.

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