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Opinion: The problem isn’t the Democrats’ message, it’s their voters

Former presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel on Sunday in downtown Los Angeles.
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
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To the editor: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is wrong: The Democrats are in the same political world they’ve been in for quite some time, one where their supporters do not get out to vote. (“Bernie Sanders in Los Angeles: ‘The truth is that Trump is a pathological liar,’” Feb. 21)

The reason Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million people wasn’t that the world changed; she lost because of the low level of support from Sanders’ supporters. Many could not see the difference between Clinton and President Trump.

Bill Clinton said it best: “In every presidential election, Democrats want to fall in love. Republicans just fall in line.” In 2016 the Republicans fell in line, and the Democrats didn’t.

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If Democrats want to make a change, they need to understand that someone who agrees with you 85% of the time is better than someone who agrees with you 5% of the time. One piece of restructuring also might take place if Sanders would change the “(I)” next to his name to a “(D)” and made Democrats feel that he’s vested in the party’s future.

Larry Margo, Valley Village

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