In leaked audio, Clinton assesses Sanders’ backers
‘They don’t see much of a future,’ she said during the primary fight in February.
Hillary Clinton recently appeared perplexed by the electorate.
On one side, it’s “nationalist, xenophobic, discriminatory,” while on the other is a “deep desire to believe that we can have free college, free healthcare.”
“I am occupying from the center-left to the centerright. And I don’t have much company there,” Clinton said privately at a fundraiser in Virginia in February, in the thick of the primary race.
Audio of Clinton’s closeddoor statements emerged last week, first published by the conservative Washington Free Beacon, which says it came from “hackers who breached the email account of a campaign staffer.”
In her nearly hourlong remarks, Clinton, who at the time was locked in a contentious primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also offered her view of his supporters.
“Some are new to politics completely. They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement,” she said. “They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don’t see much of a future.”
Sanders, who was especially popular with young voters, is now working to boost Clinton’s support among the same demographic in her general election battle against Republican Donald Trump. Sanders is scheduled to campaign for Clinton next week in Iowa and Minnesota.
Clinton appears to be trying to understand the demands of Sanders’ supporters in her remarks, which didn’t immediately threaten to unsettle her campaign as when she called half of Trump’s supporters “deplorables” at another fundraiser last month.
“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it, and unfortunately there are people like that — and he has lifted them up,” she said.
She later expressed regret for referring to “half ” of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables.”
Also Saturday, Clinton’s campaign announced that it had raised $154 million in September — her largest haul of the election cycle.
In the campaign’s joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee, $84 million was raised for Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, and about $70 million for the party.
Combined, Clinton and Democrats enter October with about $150 million in the bank as they seek to stave off Republicans and Donald Trump.
Amid reports that Trump is being urged by Republicans to make a hefty donation to his own campaign, Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a statement that donors “must continue to step up in order to have the resources we need to mobilize millions of voters across the country.”
In August, Clinton and Democrats raised $143 million and finished the month with $68.4 million in the bank to Trump’s $50.2 million.