DOMESTIC
VANDERBILT POLITICAL REVIEW
A Hard Turn Left
Bernie Sanders and the return of the Democrats’ ideological gap
F
ollowing the 1972 Democratic National Convention, Senator George
McGovern declared, “I opened the
doors of the Democratic Party and 20 million people walked out.” Four months later,
with the Democratic nomination firmly in
his grasp and a loyal, grassroots following behind him, McGovern walked into an
electoral slaughter. Winning only the state
of Massachusetts and Washington, DC,
McGovern lost to President Richard Nixon
in the fourth largest landslide in