Bernie Sanders’ lead grows with New Hampshire women

If the New Hampshire Democratic POTUS primary were a sitcom, the name might be ‘Everybody Loves Bernie.’

According to the latest poll from WBUR, Sen. Bernie Sanders is crushing his fellow 2020 contenders in the Granite State with 29% of the vote, 12 points ahead of former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 15 points ahead of Joe Biden and, well, let’s not tell Sen. Elizabeth Warren her numbers until she’s had a chance to get her a beer.

But Bernie’s success is even bigger than it appears at first glance. While New Hampshire Democrats tend to have a positive view of all their party’s top-tier candidates, Bernie’s their fave. For all the talk about Vice President Biden being a consensus candidate, Bernie’s approval rating is actually higher, 74% to 57%.

(One exception to the rule is Gov. Deval Patrick, whose favorables narrowly exceed his unfavorables at 31% to 29%. Then again, I did say “top-tier candidates.”)

All of which may explain why the betting markets are picking Sanders to win the New Hampshire primary going away. According to UK-based Oddschecker.com, “Bernie Sanders is currently the favorite to win the first three states in the 2020 Democrat Primaries, according to oddsmakers.”

“Just six weeks ago, Elizabeth Warren was a clear favorite among oddsmakers and bettors alike in New Hampshire, with an implied percentage chance of 61.90% from odds of -162,” their spokesperson Pete Watt told me. Since then, it’s been all bets on Bernie.

Let’s pause for a moment so all the #Woke Ladies can start complaining about sexism and misogyny and how Liz Warren is really a lot of fun once you get to know her, etc. All of which might have some merit if Bernie Sanders weren’t beating her … among women.

Actually the word “beating” isn’t fair. It’s what Barack Obama used to call a “shellacking.” New Hampshire Democratic women prefer Bernie to Warren by a nearly 3 to 1 margin: 30% to 11%. Two weeks after her “Sanders is a sexist!” stupidity, Warren’s support among women is barely in the single digits.

Forget ‘Bernie Bros.’ Maybe it’s time for ‘Bernie Babes’?

“That’s just with the college kids, and kids don’t vote. Wait till the mature Democratic women show up, they’re gonna give Warren a big win!” Uh-huh. Actually, the most popular candidate among New Hampshire’s (ahem) “women of a certain age” is … Bernie Sanders. The same is true among wealthy and well-educated voters, too.

If I’d predicted a year ago that Warren would be losing affluent, college-educated white women — to Bernie Sanders — I would have been dismissed as a kook. But that’s what’s happening.

And this isn’t merely the impact of Bernie’s rugged good looks and animal magnetism, either. It’s also the case that women are rejecting Liz Warren.

Once again, these are WBUR’s own poll results. But being WBUR — a taxpayer-funded propaganda outfit as opposed to a nonpartisan news source — they never mention Sanders’ crushing lead among women and instead ‘report’ that “the issue of gender is very much in play in the race, and could galvanize female support for Warren.”

Well, yeah — it could. And Charlie Baker could suddenly remember he’s supposed to be a Republican and stop pushing gazillion-dollar tax hikes. Miracles happen every day.

But what is actually happening, and has been happening for weeks, is that Sanders support has been rising while Warren’s has been waning. What’s happening is that Warren’s attempted smear of Sanders backfired. That her unflappable fakery isn’t working, while Sanders’ unapologetic “Eat The Rich!” socialism is succeeding.

Here’s what’s going to happen: Sanders is going to win Iowa. Democrats are going to freak. They’re going to look to New Hampshire for a firewall and find a state where their natural ally, Liz Warren, is a non-starter.

Bernie wins the #FITN primary, wins Nevada, does OK in S.C., then barrels into Super Tuesday with millions to spend and nothing but Mike Bloomberg between him and the nomination.

And that’s when we’ll find out if the Democratic establishment hates Bernie enough to embrace an unpopular NYC billionaire of their own.