Bernie Sanders on Tuesday said restrictions that make it tougher for registered independents to vote in New York’s Democratic presidential primary will hurt his chances in the state.
In a radio interview with CBS News’s Rita Cosby, Sanders was asked about his chances in the Empire State.
{mosads}“One of the concerns that I have, Rita, is that here in New York State we have some very antiquated voting laws, which basically disqualify 3 million people who are independents — not in the Democratic or Republican parties — from participating. We usually do very well among independents so that’s gonna hurt us,” Sanders said.
The Vermont senator pushed back against the idea that his campaign is in trouble if he doesn’t take New York, saying that every state has been called a “must-win.” And he shot down rumors that he would drop out of the race if he had a poor showing Tuesday.
“No, no we’re going to California,” he said. “The people of every state in this country must have the right to make a choice about who they want to be the Democratic nominee, and that’s certainly going to happen. We’re going to the convention in Philadelphia, we’re going to be out in California, we’re going to be out in Oregon, we’ve got a number of states left that we’ve got to fight for.”
Despite the tempered expectations, Sanders expressed some optimism that he could pull out a win in New York, saying that “the polls have underestimated our strengths for a variety or reasons.”
“I think we can win,” he said. “Again, it has everything to do with the voter turnout. I would remind listeners that we won the state of Michigan a while back. The major poll there sponsored by the largest newspaper in Detroit had us 25 points behind, I believe, the day before the election.”
Most polls have Sanders trailing front-runner Hillary Clinton by double digits in New York.