How Bernie Sanders’ Online Army Crushed Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are on a collision course. The pair share similar progressive ideologies and have been an uncompromising force during the 2020 campaign. A plurality of Warren’s supporters would pick Sanders as their second choice if Warren were to drop out. This is mirrored by Sanders’ supporters who would choose Warren as their second choice. Despite their overlapping voting bases, Warren and Sanders have rarely gone after each other and have often tag teamed against their more moderate rivals.
Despite their friendly demeanor onstage, however, animosity has been rising between Warren and Sanders’ most ardent supporters. Far-left publications such as Jacobin that were once open to Warren's candidacy have now turned against her. Jacobin Magazine, in particular, has been at the forefront of the attacks on Warren.
Jacobin is very popular with the young socialist movement in the U.S., and carries a paid circulation of more than 40,000, while drawing more than 2 million unique visitors to its website every month. In the early and middle parts of 2019, Jacobin was seemingly supportive of Elizabeth Warren. In April of 2019, Jacobin published an article calling Warren a “tough-minded liberal who makes the right kind of enemies,” and said her policy proposals, “would make this country a better place.” Another Jacobin article even stated, “If Bernie Sanders weren’t running, an Elizabeth Warren presidency would probably be the best-case scenario.”
Warren was lagging in the polls, in early 2019, and it seemed harmless for the publication to portray her in a positive light. Once Warren began to surge in the polls during the summer and autumn months, however, the writers of Jacobin changed their tune. Beginning in October and coming to a head in November was a barrage of attacks on Warren, with many labeling her as insufficiently progressive or confrontational enough towards billionaires. In November, Jacobin carried headlines that included "Elizabeth Warren's Head Tax Is Indefensible" (Published 11/11/2019), "Elizabeth Warren’s Plan to Finance Medicare for All Is a Disaster" (Published 11/1/19), and "Elizabeth Warren Is Jeopardizing Our Fight for Medicare for All" (Published 11/4/19).
In Jacobin’s "Elizabeth Warren Isn’t Serious About Winning Medicare for All" (Published 12/7/19) article, the publication flat out stated, “After sizing up her plan, it’s clear that Elizabeth Warren doesn’t care about passing Medicare for All. Any hope of keeping Medicare for All on the agenda in the foreseeable future will be made or broken with Bernie Sanders. Those who are serious about winning must rally our movement behind his campaign while we can.”
These headlines and statements from Jacobin and other leftist/socialist websites are a primary reason for Elizabeth Warren’s decline in the polls from early October to late November. From October 8, 2019, which represents Warren’s high point in the polls, through January 7, 2020, Warren dropped from 26.6% to 14.2% in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Noticeably, Bernie Sanders rose from 14.6% to 20.3% during this same period. Sander’s endorsement from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has certainly been a factor in Sanders’ rise, but the correlation between the Jacobin attacks and Warren’s drop in the polls is undeniable. Warren's fundraising also dropped during the 4th quarter of 2019 at the same time that the articles attacking her were published.
Warren could withstand an attack from the right with ease, but her campaign is simply not prepared to defend itself against attacks from the left. Warren’s entire campaign is built on a bold progressive agenda that appeals to the more liberal members of the Democratic party. These progressive voters won’t be influenced in the slightest by an attack from Republicans but they can certainly be influenced by the criticisms of other progressives. Warren's attacks on Pete Buttigieg and insistence on purity testshave also harmed her standing in the polls, but Warren could have better navigated through her errors if she had publications such as Jacobin protecting her. Warren lacks the dedicated publications and organizations that can directly counter Sanders supporting media such as Jacobin and TYT
Another popular online entity that has turned against Warren is the YouTube channel The Young Turks. The progressive YouTube channel has been extremely protective of Sanders in recent months. The Young Turks (TYT) have attacked everyone from Pete Buttigieg to Joe Biden to Elizabeth Warren. Despite propping up Warren for years, the 4.6 million-subscriber media outlet has sharply stepped up their criticisms of her in recent weeks. TYT is highly influential in progressive circles and has essentially been a mouthpiece for Bernie Sanders in attacking Elizabeth Warren. Warren’s plan for Medicare for All was derided as a “Fail” by TYT even though it almost identical to Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All policy.
Although no definitive data exists, it would not be a shot in the dark to say that the vast majority of listeners to TYT voted for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016. TYT founder Cenk Uygur gave an initial indication in June of 2019 that Bernie and Warren were on the same side by stating, “Elizabeth Warren should have Bernie’s back when he’s attacked and Bernie should have Elizabeth Warren’s back when she’s attacked.” Having Warren as president, it was thought, would be the next best thing to a Bernie Sanders’ presidency and that she would carry on Bernie’s vision for the U.S.
Many listeners to TYT took these positive commentaries as permission to support and donate to Warren, despite having supported Sanders in 2016. As Warren’s base grew, however, TYT began to get worried that their chosen candidate was falling behind. With this worry came TYT’s onslaught of negative coverage of Warren.
TYT hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian endorsed Bernie Sanders on November 13, 2019. Despite Uygur commenting that he loves Warren, he stated that he was siding with Sanders due to him “completely and utterly challenging the system.” Since Uygur’s endorsement, several videos have been posted which chastised Warren’s positions on health care and her overall progressive record. The videos followed the same theme as Jacobin. They argued that Bernie Sanders was the only true progressive in the field, and that Elizabeth Warren should not be trusted, particularly on the issue of Medicare for All.
Although people are loath to admit that they are influenced by the media (TYT and Jacobin count as media) it is clear that thousands of former Warren supporters have indeed been swayed to vote for Bernie Sanders. Sanders’ 2016 campaign may have ultimately been unsuccessful, but it allowed him to build a massive and dedicated social media following. The pairing of relatively new organizations such as Our Revolution and Justice Democrats with older progressive media, such as Jacobin and TYT, has created a formidable presence that is dominant in progressive circles. If these organizations and media tell their followers to support Bernie Sanders over Elizabeth Warren then those followers often immediately oblige.
Warren so far has been unable to counter the social media push from Sanders’ supporters. If Warren wants to regain her front runner status, she must find a way to counter Sanders’ online army, and fast. The Iowa Caucus is rapidly approaching and Warren must find her own dedicated media to not only support her but also protect her candidacy and ideas.