We Asked Bernie Sanders Die-Hards, “Who Will You Vote for in November?”

“I’ll even vote for Trump before I vote for her. I’m so anti-Hillary.”


Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders booed the mention of Hillary Clinton’s name on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center on Monday, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Only you! Only you!” chanted some of his delegates during a speech by the onetime presidential hopeful, who pleaded for party unity. “Immediately, right now, we have got to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders said in a special speech to delegates Monday afternoon, “and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.”

In the streets, the atmosphere was no less restless and no less resistant to Clinton’s likely nomination. I wanted to know from Sanders’ most die-hard supporters who gathered around Marconi Plaza for a rally: If Sanders doesn’t get the nomination, how will you vote in November?

Those who responded ranged from voters who had, grudgingly and with a heavy sense of grief, swung their support behind Clinton to defeat Donald Trump, to others who said they would simply vote for Trump.

“We’re tired of being put in a corner,” said Gail Gouveia, from Massachusetts. Gouveia won’t vote for Clinton and remains undecided. “I was surprised the way people caved in,” she said, “and said they were going to vote for Hillary.”

“I am so anti-Hillary,” said LaShanda Parker, who entertained voting for Trump over Clinton. “Pick your poison. Do you want to get shot in the foot, or in the head?”

Watch the full video above.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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