Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has dropped in recent polls and been outraised by two of his rivals for the Democratic nomination following the first primary debate, but supporters insist the senator has the best chance of winning.
“When he announced in 2016, a lot of people in the elite class said that he stood no chance and couldn’t win. Over the course of his campaign, he proved a lot of people wrong,” Faiz Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, told Politico. “Fast forward to 2019, and you have some of the same skeptics saying it’s dead, it’s all over. I think they will be similarly proven wrong.”
Jeff Weaver, one of the senator’s top advisers, added that post-debate polls don’t tend to determine who is the strongest candidate.
“It’s a very volatile field,” he said. “There will be huge swings in polling based on a moment. But if all it took to be president was a memorable debate performance, then a lot of people would be president. This is about a long-term campaign that is heavily dependent on organization and ground game in the states.”
Weaver added, "It's important for people to be reminded — because they do know it — that if this debate was taking place in 2016, almost none of these candidates would be talking about these issues.”
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