If Bernie Sanders becomes the Democratic nominee, we face another four years of Donald Trump due to loss aversion and Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal.
Loss aversion is a cognitive bias where the pain of loss is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gain. People are more upset about losing $10 than are happy about finding $10. Roughly speaking, losses hurt about twice as much as gains make you feel good. This aversion to loss is a strong emotion. People resist change. We focus more on what we might lose rather than on potential gain.
Voters who have health insurance through their employment view Medicare for All as taking away their health insurance. Thus, independents and many Democrats whose support is critical to winning the election will either vote for Trump or sit out the election, resulting in a Republican victory.
Another factor that passionate Bernie supporters don't realize is that campaign promises are just that, a pledge and no guarantee. For any of Bernie's promises to have even a remote chance of being enacted, the Democrats would need to re-take the Senate, a huge challenge. Already, many Democrats running for other offices are distancing themselves from Sanders.
Jean M. Lown, Logan