WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton was under pressure to do well in Democratic nominating contests in Kentucky and Oregon so she can turn her attention to the general election and the mounting attacks on her by Republican candidate Donald Trump.
The continued presence in the race of Bernie Sanders — who remains a long-shot to upset Clinton and win the Democratic nomination — is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt the Democrat in the fall.
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
“Either way we’re going to get a Democratic president,” Alisha Liedtke, 28, a Sanders supporter from Ellensburg, Washington.
In interviews with 14 voters who back the US senator from Vermont, supporters said they did not believe Trump, who is all but certain to be the Republican nominee, could win the general election.
They said Sanders should keep fighting until the Democratic National Convention in July, to push Clinton to the left and challenge her ties to Wall Street and support for free-trade deals.
Allies of Clinton have held back from overt calls for Sanders to exit the race. Moves by her campaign to try to push him out could risk angering Democratic voters and backfire.
The continued presence in the race of Bernie Sanders — who remains a long-shot to upset Clinton and win the Democratic nomination — is prompting concerns among Clinton allies that he will damage her ability to take on Trump and hurt the Democrat in the fall.
But Sanders supporters shrug off that worry, arguing that Trump is such a flawed candidate that Clinton will easily dispatch with him if she faces him in the Nov. 8 election.
“Either way we’re going to get a Democratic president,” Alisha Liedtke, 28, a Sanders supporter from Ellensburg, Washington.
In interviews with 14 voters who back the US senator from Vermont, supporters said they did not believe Trump, who is all but certain to be the Republican nominee, could win the general election.
They said Sanders should keep fighting until the Democratic National Convention in July, to push Clinton to the left and challenge her ties to Wall Street and support for free-trade deals.
Allies of Clinton have held back from overt calls for Sanders to exit the race. Moves by her campaign to try to push him out could risk angering Democratic voters and backfire.
