Local Bernie Sanders Supporters Weigh Their Options
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – After Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire Tuesday morning, his California supporters have a decision in front of them: Do they switch sides or vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States," said Bernie Sanders.
It's a moment that many in the Democratic Party have been waiting for: Clinton and Sanders coming together to show a united front.
Kim Stoddard is life-long Democrat and a strong supporter of Senator Sanders. She called his endorsement of Hillary Clinton a smart political move on the brink of the Philadelphia convention.
"I think this helps him operate from within the Democratic Party," she said. "And in a system that he's involved in and keep on his committees and things that he's doing. So I understand why he's doing it and I don't resent him for that."
"Well, I was proud of him for endorsing her," said Lynne Stevenson, who voted for Sanders in the June 7 primary. "I really hope that Hillary can use him in her administration and implement some of his ideas in the administration."
Now, she's prepared to vote for Clinton in November, but for some Californians, even a Sanders endorsement isn't enough to get them to feel the Bern for Secretary Clinton.
"Her being the first female president I don't think is a good first person," said 24-year-old Joel Demianew. "There's just a lot of things that I don't know about and she's just not the candidate that I would chose myself."
But he's not too crazy about Trump either.
"The way he's gone about his campaign, I'm just not interested in him as a candidate," Demianew said.
Stoddard said a Clinton-Trump ballot has her looking beyond red and blue. After 42 years of voting as a Democrat, it's third-party-candidate Jill Stein who has her vote now.
"I am now going to switch my party affiliation to the Green Party for the first time in my life," Stoddard said. "Jill Stein stands up for everything that Bernie Sanders has stood up for and almost as long as Bernie Sanders."
But Don Iby disagrees and feels that looking for other options is waste of time.
"Got about as much chance as a snowball in hell," he said.
As the time to decide ticks away, Sanders supporters may head to the polls as reluctant as Iby.
"I'm not really thrilled with either one of them," he said. "It would be the lesser of two evils to be honest with you."
He told CBS13 that he plans to vote for Clinton in November.
