did bernie lose in 2016 because he lost the black vote?

it's an accounting problem - you can do the math that way, but it's disingenuous.

he lost the south by huge margins, regardless - white southerners seemed to prefer clinton, as well, and i don't know why everybody forgot that she was first lady of arkansas for eight years. i did a post on this. he just flat out lost the south, through and through. he did terribly with older voters. he did badly with democrats. and, large percentages of his voting base were unable to vote for him, due to the rules around the process.

so, the single biggest thing he needed to do was register, register, register...but that doesn't seem to be happening. the focus seems to be on trying to convince the most conservative block in the country to vote for the most liberal candidate in years. it makes no sense, as a strategy.

he should have doubled down on his strengths, instead of trying to address his weaknesses.

and, i'll tell you what the numbers say right now: while bernie may not have lost in 2016 due to black voters, if things don't change soon, he's going to lose 2020 because he has minimal support levels amongst white voters. and, that was the whole argument for bernie in the first place....