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Sanders Voter Lists Reasons She Won’t Vote For Clinton in General Election

April 21, 2016

A supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) vowed Thursday to never vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election if she is the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, listing off several reasons why she strongly dislikes the former secretary of state.

"If Hillary Clinton gets the nomination, as a Bernie supporter, would you end up voting for her?" a reporter asked a woman wearing a Bernie For President T-shirt.

"I don’t think so; I'm pretty positive," the woman said.

Another voter sitting next to the Sanders supporter asked if she would sit out the election and not vote for anyone if Clinton became the nominee.

"I’m not going to sit out. There are multiple candidates. I would cast my vote for Jill Stein before [Clinton]," the woman said, referring to the liberal environmental activist who is running for president as a member of the Green Party.

Stein also was the Green Party’s nominee during the 2012 election.

"I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton after a lot of the things that she’s done over the course of her career," the Sanders supporter said before listing grievances she has with the former first lady.

"Like what she [Clinton] did in Haiti with the minimum wage; you know, the selling of, or the negotiation on behalf of the countries sell those fighter jets to Saudi Arabia."

"A lot of the big issues still stand out for you?" the reporter asked.

"Yeah, those things are really major," the woman said.

The Sanders supporter was in part referring to Clinton’s policy toward Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake there in 2010. The Clintons were the top targets of protests in Haiti last month, which lambasted Hillary Clinton for the "destruction" of the country. The Clinton Foundation was involved in the rebuilding of Haiti, but the country is still struggling economically.

As the Democratic primary continues and the convention draws closer, there is growing concern among Clinton supporters that enthusiastic Sanders voters will not vote for her if she is the party’s nominee, depriving the former first lady of a large portion of voters in the Democratic base. One in four Sanders supporters will not vote Clinton in a general election, according to a poll from earlier this month, and another survey found one-third of them will not support her.

Both Clinton and Sanders have said they would prefer each other in a general election over the Republican nominee although it is unclear if Sanders would formally endorse Clinton.

The Clinton campaign has argued that the Democratic Party must follow her lead in 2008 when she endorsed and supported then-senator Barack Obama after losing a hard-fought primary against him. They say the party must unite to beat the Republican candidate in the general election.