This Revolution is Being Televised

By Daily Editorials

February 15, 2016 3 min read

New Hampshire continued the revolt against establishment politics that marked last week's Iowa caucuses and has been prominent in polling for months. In preliminary counts, Granite State Democrats voted to "feel the Bern" by giving a 60-39 percent victory to Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator from neighboring Vermont, over Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Sanders' victory speech set the tone: "Tonight we serve notice to the economic and political establishment of this country that the American people will not accept a corrupt campaign finance system ... and we will not accept a rigged economy."

At press time, Republican voters preferred Donald Trump and his call to "Make America great again" with 34 percent, followed by 16 percent for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who in recent months practically moved to New Hampshire, and 12 percent for Sen. Ted Cruz.

The results bore witness to what three pollsters, led by Patrick Caddell, called a "prerevolutionary moment" after last week's Iowa caucuses, in which Sanders nearly bested Clinton among Democrats, and the top two Republicans were Cruz and Trump. The pollsters found that, nationally, 84 percent "believe political leaders are more interested in protecting their power and privilege than doing what is right."

For Sanders' win, exit polls predictably showed he garnered support from 85 percent of those under 30 and 65 percent of those "very liberal." But he curiously also triggered 68 percent support from gun owners, showing Clinton's debate strategy of attacking his sometimes-weak gun-control record backfired.

In his victory speech, Trump shouted out the same themes he used on the campaign trail: "The world is going to respect us again. Believe me. ... We're going to knock the hell out of ISIS. ... We're going to start winning so much. We're going to make America so great again, maybe greater than ever before."

We wish the candidates more emphasized freedom. And it's still a long slog to the nominating conventions. But what's clear is the voters keep exclaiming they want the special interests expelled from the corridors of power.

REPRINTED FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Photo credit: Marc Nozell

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