Bernie Sanders said he would have to wait to evaluate Hillary Clinton’s “platform” before campaigning for her if he ends his own White House bid.
{mosads}Sanders admitted to the “hard path” before him in beating Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination but said the uphill battle is “not unrealistic.”
When asked by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in an interview that aired Friday if he would help steer his followers to Clinton if she wins the nomination, Sanders said he would have to consider her views at that point.
“Well, first of all, I’ve got to find out what her platform is, what the views are that she is going to be bringing forth, to what degree she will adopt many of the ideas that I think are extremely popular and I think very sensible,” Sanders said.
He suggested that he’d like to see Clinton more strongly take on some of the cornerstones of his own campaign before supporting her.
“It is a two-way street,” he said. “I want to see the Democratic Party have the courage to stand up to big-money interests in a way that they have not in the past, take on the drug companies, take on Wall Street, take on the fossil fuel industry, and I want to see them come up with ideas that really do excite working families and young people in this country.”
Sanders dodged a question about running on a Clinton ticket, saying instead that he’s focusing on the five states that hold primary elections this coming Tuesday.
If Clinton secures the nomination, she could face a rough road to the general election with young voters, who overwhelmingly support Sanders.
A recent national Fox News poll showed 65 percent of Democrats under 45 favoring Sanders, even though the two were nearly tied overall.