Voters need to turn outfor the general election

Quite a few of the Bernie Sanders supporters out there say that they would never be able to support Hillary Clinton in the general election if she wins the Democratic nomination. This is a problem, because every Democratic voter that stays home because their candidate isn’t the nominee is practically giving their vote to the GOP.

Addictinginfo.com reports that 5 percent was the average popular vote spread in the 2008 and 2012 general presidential elections. That means if just 5 percent of the Democratic voter base stays home because their candidate isn’t the nominee, it’ll be fairly easy for the next president to be a Republican.

While I support Bernie Sanders in the upcoming primaries, I also know that Hillary Clinton winning the nomination is likely. I would jump at the opportunity to vote for Clinton in the general election over any Republican.

Moral of the story? Don’t jump ship on the general election just because your candidate wasn’t nominated - or who knows, come January 2017, “President Trump” may be a regular phrase in our vocabulary.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Voters need to turn outfor the general election."