Bernie Sanders Supporters See Opportunity for Political Change

SANTA MONICA, CA -- Young and old, Hispanics and white, blacks and Asians -- they were all gathered at Santa Monica High School on Monday evening to see Bernie Sanders. That’s the kind of cross-cultural and cross-generational support Sanders attracts.

For two hours in the chilly Santa Monica evening, the Democratic presidential hopeful talked about his ideas for the country, ideas that resonate with people who have “felt the Bern.” People like Andrea Stern, 60, of Venice who sees an opportunity for change. Stern said she supports Sanders because he’s a Social Democrat.

“The cornerstone of his platform is we pay more in taxes and we get more,” she said. “That’s the most exciting thing to me -- that healthcare benefits are more accessible.”

The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have universal healthcare, which Sanders calls an “international embarrassment.”

Sanders’ idea obviously resonates with this diverse, but mostly young, crowd. They like the idea of a free college education, universal healthcare and eliminating the wealth disparity.

“I just think that we’re at a crossroad and we have the opportunity to become a country that’s very much for the people and do a lot of progressive programs,” Adam Wessler, 26, said.

With the California primary only two weeks away, both Hillary Clinton and Sanders are campaigning hard in the state to garner support. At stake are 475 delegates and Clinton is within 100 delegates to secure the Democrat Party nomination, but Sanders is not backing down.

“Hillary is nervous and I don’t want to make Hillary nervous, but we’re going to win California,” he said.

Sanders has said he’s not like other politicians and his campaign isn’t like the others, but his movement boils down to election basics -- the candidate’s likeability. His supporters like him because they feel like he connects with them.

“I feel like he wasn’t faking for the press like other candidates are,” said Anaya Counts, a 14-year-old freshman at Santa Monica High.

Kevin Takahashi, 25, a retail worker from San Fernando Valley, agrees.

“He seems so genuine and that he actually cares about people and he doesn’t seem fake -- like Hillary,” he said.

In fact, genuine is the word that people at the rally used to describe him the most.

But his supporters don't just like him because he’s affable, they like him because of his platform and the issues he stood for.

“Bernie is probably the first political figure in a long time where my views align with every thing he's said,” said Jesse Figueroa, 26, of Santa Monica. “This is the case where I will be voting with my heart.”

At the rally, Sanders singled out each community, such as gays, blacks, Hispanics, poor, etc, that have been marginalized and ignored by the Republican party and the American political landscape at-large.

“I think this is who is and how he cares about everyone, not just a certain group of people,” Takahashi said. But it wasn’t lost on him that one group -- Asian Americans -- was left out.

“It’s definitely something he should mention, but I guess there was a time constraint,” he said. “But as an Asian American I would like to hear that too.”

Asian-American voters are the fastest growing minority group in the state and are expected to represent 1 in 10 voters nationally by 2044, according to a UC Riverside study.

For all the excitement that Sanders supporters have at the rally, a few seem to realize that it’s unlikely that Sanders will receive the Democratic Party’s nomination. Speaking before Sanders took the stage Monday night, actress Rosario Dawson said, “the journey is the destination.”

“This election is about the soul of America,” she said. “This is not about the destination, this is about the journey.”

Win or lose, Sanders' biggest contribution to the political landscape was bringing a lot of the progressive issues to the forefront in this election, Stern said.

“He legitimized the 99-percent movement,” she said.