My pet theory is actually that Bernie helped, rather than gutted HRC/Biden. Through his primary campaign so many young people became convinced to vote Democrat. Even if Berniebros were disappointed, most of them still voted for a Democrat in the general election.
One thing you could really see in this election was that confused progressives moved to Trump (or stayed home) after a successful misinformation campaign. Would have been far harder for that misinformation to find a home, if progressive voters had already voted in the Democratic primary, and their preferred candidate had pointed them to the winner of the primary.
You could even see this on the GOP side. Because Hailey supported Trump, almost no GOP voters defected in the general election which ultimately resulted in the complete failure of the Democratic strategy.
TLDR: primaries with a wide variety of choices are extremely helpful in the General election.
My pet theory is actually that Bernie helped, rather than gutted HRC/Biden. Through his primary campaign so many young people became convinced to vote Democrat. Even if Berniebros were disappointed, most of them still voted for a Democrat in the general election.
One thing you could really see in this election was that confused progressives moved to Trump (or stayed home) after a successful misinformation campaign. Would have been far harder for that misinformation to find a home, if progressive voters had already voted in the Democratic primary, and their preferred candidate had pointed them to the winner of the primary.
You could even see this on the GOP side. Because Hailey supported Trump, almost no GOP voters defected in the general election which ultimately resulted in the complete failure of the Democratic strategy.
TLDR: primaries with a wide variety of choices are extremely helpful in the General election.