Voter says she’s backing Sanders because of negative coverage on MSNBC

An undecided voter told MSNBC in a live interview that she voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary because of what she viewed as the network’s negative coverage of him. 

“I want to say that the reason I went for Bernie is because of MSNBC,” the woman said during the network’s live coverage of the primary while sitting down at a restaurant in Manchester, N.H.

*On MSNBC* a New Hampshire voter says she ended up voting for Bernie Sanders because of how unfairly *MSNBC* covered his campaign.

pic.twitter.com/PE682t2jEI

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) February 11, 2020

“Go on,” interviewer Ari Melber joked, looking at the camera.

“I think it is completely cynical to say that [Sanders] lost 50 percent of his vote from [2016] when there were two candidates. Now there are multiple, wonderful candidates who are great candidates who would be great presidents we can all get behind,” she continued.

“The kind of ‘stop Bernie cynicism’ that I heard from a number of people — I watch MSNBC constantly, that I heard from a number of commentators … made me angry, and I said, ‘OK, Bernie’s got my vote,'” she added.

“This is such an interesting point,” Melber responded. “What you’re saying is, and we take criticism because we’re journalists, right? We ought to be open-minded. You’re saying that hearing from people, whether that’s guests, commentators, the conversations you’ve heard, that you felt were designed to tear down Sen. Sanders, or quote-unquote ‘stop him,’ actually endeared him to you.”

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” the woman replied.

On Monday, MSNBC guest James Carville predicted it would be “the end of days” if Sanders captured the Democratic nomination.

“The only thing between the United States and the abyss is the Democratic Party,” Carville, a former campaign strategist to President Clinton, said Monday during an appearance on “Morning Joe.”

“That’s it. And if we go the way of the British Labour Party. If we nominate Jeremy Corbyn,” Carville said, comparing the leader of the Labour Party in Great Britain to Sanders, “it’s going to be the end of days. … We’re going to be the British Labour Party. We’re going to be out in some field, radical left-wing la-la land.”

MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews has been particularly critical of Sanders being the Democratic nominee. 

“I have my own views of the word ‘socialist’ and I’d be glad to share them with you in private,” Matthews said Friday night after the Democratic debate in New Hampshire. “They go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them. I remember the Cold War; I have an attitude towards Castro. I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park, and I might have been one of the ones getting executed. And certain other people would be there cheering, OK?

“So I have a problem with people who took the other side. I don’t know who Bernie has supported over these years, I don’t know what he means by socialism,” the former Carter speechwriter added.

Sanders, 78, has surged in recent days and is the odds-on favorite to win in New Hampshire.