About

Bernie Would Have Won is a popular phrase on Twitter which refers to the idea that Bernie Sanders would have won the 2016 United States Presidential Election over Donald Trump had he been the Democratic Party's nominee instead of Hillary Clinton. The phrase was used by Sanders supporters in sincere post-election arguments and articles and overtime became a phrasal meme.

Origin

Following the election of Republican Donald Trump, some Democrats examining the events of the election opined that Bernie Sanders would have won had he been the nominee. Shortly after the election's results went final, Sanders supporters began tweeting their frustrations over feeling as though he would have won the election (shown below).

The Washington Post^[1] published an article two days after the election that made the argument citing Bernie's popularity in the "rust belt" states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin) that Clinton lost and the populist supporters of Trump. Several articles came out in the following days refuting or reiterating the argument.^[2][3][4]

Spread

In the weeks following the election, "Bernie Would Have Won" became a common phrase used on Twitter by Sanders supporters, first as a way to argue against Democrats who believed that Sanders' candidacy hurt Clinton in the general election, and then eventually as a way to troll Clinton supporters who they believed had treated Sanders unfairly in the primary. The phrase was used to counter arguments from center-left liberals that Sanders would not have won the election before it turned into a joke. On December 22nd, 2016, Mic^[6] covered the spread of "Bernie Would've Won" memes. One of the more popular examples of the phrase's joke uses was to insert it into popular song lyrics (ex: shown below).

One of the most popular examples of the joke was tweeted January 1st, 2017 following an act of vandalism that caused the iconic "Hollywood" sign in Hollywood, California to read "Hollyweed." Twitter user @thefurlinator^[5] tweeted an image of the Hollywood sign photoshopped to read "Berniewood Have Won" in a tweet that gained 5,000 retweets and over 15,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References