Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton dismissed the idea Sunday that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) is more electable than her because of his better polling against Donald Trump, arguing such polls "mean nothing" at this point for the general election while Sanders has not undergone the same scrutiny she has experienced.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Clinton laughed when host Chuck Todd asked her if Sanders has a legitimate case to make to superdelegates, elected Democratic officials and prominent members of the party with disproportionate influence over the final delegate count, that he is the best candidate to beat Trump in November.
Todd told Clinton that the Sanders campaign released a memo this week "showing how much stronger he is against Donald Trump than you are" and cited a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that has Sanders beating Trump in a potential matchup by 15 points while Clinton only wins against the presumptive GOP nominee by three points.
"You made an electability case seven days before the final day of the primary season to superdelegates back in 2008," Todd said to Clinton. "Why shouldn’t superdelegates listen to the Bernie Sanders argument and say, ‘You know what, maybe he is more electable?’" Todd asked.
Clinton immediately laughed in response before dismissing Sanders’ argument.
"First of all, people have voted for me overwhelmingly in the Democratic primary process," Clinton said. "And that is absolutely clear and very different from where we were in 2008. I could make the case, which I did, that I was actually slightly ahead in the popular vote when we ended that primary. But I was behind in the pledged delegates."
"It’s also fair to say that I have been vetted and tested, and I think that puts me in a vey strong position," Clinton added. "I don’t think he’s [Sanders] had a single negative ad ever run against him. And that’s fine, but we know what we’re going into and we understand what it’s going to take to win in the fall."
Clinton dismissed polls altogether at this point in the race that try and predict what will happen in the general election.
"Polls this far out mean nothing," Clinton said. "They certainly mean nothing to me, and I think if people go back and look, they really mean nothing in terms of analyzing what’s going to happen in the fall."
The former first lady noted that she has received three million more votes than Sanders, who has lambasted the Democratic primary process as a rigged system that ignores the will of voters because of the disproportionate influence of superdelegates.
Some commentators have noted that one reason Clinton polls worse than Sanders against Trump is because of her high unfavorable numbers, which stems in part from a majority of Americans believing that she is dishonest and untrustworthy.