sanders was on <u+2018>meet the press<u+2019> again sunday touting his polling advantage against trump. he<u+2019>s right, but there<u+2019>s a key reason hillary does worse in head-to-head matchups.









on meet the press, former california governor arnold schwarzenegger declined to endorse the republican presumptive nominee, donald trump, saying he would disclose his position on the presidency at a later date. on cnn, florida sen. marco rubio said he would support trump because he so strongly opposes hillary clinton. and on abc<u+2019>s this week, california sen. dianne feinstein said it was time for bernie sanders to consider ending his campaign for the democratic nomination.









in an interview on meet the press, sanders sounded as if had no intention of dropping out anytime soon. sanders said he believes he still has a chance to win the democratic nomination by winning the california primary against clinton.









"right now,<u+201d> sanders said, <u+201c>in every major poll, national poll and statewide poll done in the last month, six weeks, we are defeating trump, often by big numbers, and always at a larger margin than secretary clinton is."









for example, the most recent poll, the nbc news-wall street journal poll, showed clinton beating trump by 3 points and sanders beating trump by 15 points. that means sanders bested clinton<u+2019>s performance by 12 points. in other polls, sanders<u+2019>s lead on clinton was less but never fell below a margin of 3 points.









clinton has been scrutinized and attacked as a public figure for a quarter century, but sanders<u+2014>even after running for president for a year<u+2014>is a relatively new figure to voters nationally. it remains to be seen how open voters will be to supporting sanders once republicans start airing negative attacks, especially ones that note his identification as a democratic socialist. (according to polls, being a socialist is a less attractive quality for voters than being an atheist.)









<u+201c>general election polls don<u+2019>t mean much until the conventions are over and you get to late summer or early fall,<u+201d> said kerwin swint, a political scientist at kennesaw state university. <u+201c>a lot of voters don<u+2019>t look at sanders as a legitimate threat. it<u+2019>s almost like he<u+2019>s an imaginary candidate.<u+201d>









and it<u+2019>s worth adding, as meet the press host chuck todd noted, that clinton can be expected to poll better against trump after she officially secures the nomination and many former sanders supporters come to her side.









sanders also said he will continue to make the case that his positions are more in line with the democratic base than clinton<u+2019>s.









<u+201c>our campaign is about defeating secretary clinton on the real issues,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>i want to break up the wall street banks. she doesn<u+2019>t. i want to raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. she wants $12 an hour. i voted against the war in iraq. she voted for the war in iraq. i believe we should ban fracking. she does not. i believe we should have a tax on carbon and deal aggressively with climate change. that is not her position. those are some of the issues that i am campaigning on.<u+201d>









sanders is right about clinton<u+2019>s iraq war vote and where she stands on breaking up the banks, a $15 minimum wage, and fracking. but is he also right about their differences on carbon tax and climate change? that claim rates mostly true.









there<u+2019>s no doubt that sanders<u+2019>s rhetoric on climate change and his plan to deal with it are aggressive and, unlike clinton, he has advocated for a carbon tax. clinton does, however, have a climate change plan. while some environmentalists have said it isn<u+2019>t tough enough, others have given it positive reviews.









both the sanders and clinton campaigns referred us to each candidate<u+2019>s climate change plan. sanders<u+2019>s climate change plan is long and comprehensive. beyond a tax on carbon, it includes an array of proposals such as banning certain drilling and mining practices; cutting tax subsidies for oil and gas companies; investing in clean energy, alternative fuels, and energy efficiency programs; and improving the national public transit system.









but some are skeptical of clinton<u+2019>s <u+201c>boldness.<u+201d> pulitzer prize-winning website insideclimate news called clinton<u+2019>s plan ambitious but said it <u+201c>falls short of bold.<u+201d> the washington post<u+2019>s editorial board said her ideas are <u+201c>second best.<u+201d> environmental news magazine grist summed up her plan as not bad but <u+201c>not quite the climate hawkishness we need.<u+201d>
yes, bernie polls better against trump than hillary<u+2014>but there<u+2019>s a catch
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