Sanders: Third-party votes ‘in a sense’ votes for Trump

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday touted Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, saying that, “in a sense,” a vote for a third-party candidate is a vote for Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

{mosads}”I think it’s that the evidence is overwhelming that the next president of the United States is going to be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think if you’re voting for somebody else in the sense of not supporting Clinton because she doesn’t live up to all of your specifications or all of your ideas, I think, in a sense, it is a vote for Trump.”

Sanders then said voters should look at Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson’s record on the environment and the economy.

“It is a very conservative approach, something that I think most of my supporters do not support,” Sanders said.

The Vermont senator also urged people to contrast the positions of Trump with those of Clinton, the Democratic nominee, calling on voters to select a candidate based on the issues.

He cited Clinton’s positions on climate change, minimum wage and pay equity for women and slammed Trump’s positions on these issues.

Sanders has been campaigning for his former Democratic primary rival recently, urging voters to get on board with the Clinton campaign.