I've only sat out one election: Obama-McCain. I'll sit out a Trump-Sanders one.

Ok...but that doesn't make sense because had Bernie beat Hillary last election....he would have faced Trump.  And he would have gotten your vote THEN according to your own words.

Now fast forward to 2020....Bernie wins the nomination but won't get your vote because you don't think he CAN beat Trump....thus playing your part in a possible Trump victory?

If Bernie wins the nomination in this varied and crowded field of Democrats in what will be a grueling primary process....why do you think he couldn't beat Trump?  

 Bernie is still the single most popular politician in America. In a matter of hours he nearly tripled Kamala Harris' donations in a 24 hour period.  

Somehow Trump and his propaganda machine has convinced people he won by some unfathomable number of votes.  He didn't.  He famously lost the popular vote by millions...and won the electoral college on the strength of about 80,000 people.  I'm a University of Michigan fan and my Wolverines play in fabled Michigan Stadium. 'The Big House'.  You couldn't fill The Big House with 80,000. (it seats more than 110,00).

And that paltry number came spread across the same 3 midwestern states that Hillary clearly took for granted.  Voter apathy played a huge part in Trump's win.  

 Had Hillary spent as much time in the midwest as Bernie did.....(I saw him twice in the Detroit area...and missed him in other parts of the state) well....lets just say you can go ahead and scoff at me.

I was an ardent HIllary supporter, but I'm glad that Hillary isn't running because if Bernie loses the nomination again it will be less likely that his (angry, white, male) supporters will go off in a huff and either not vote on November 3rd, 2020 or vote for a protest candidate.  We need a person who can turn those (angry, white, male) voters around in specific districts, and if it's Bernie, it's Bernie.

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Bernie Sanders is not a traditional Democrat, nor a Clinton 'third-way' guy.  He's legitimately on the left.  So, for people on the left, he's the only candidate to really care about.  For people of a more mainstream democrat ilk, he's seen as an invader of their party as he's been a multi-term Senator as an independent, and too far left for their liking.

So who WOULD you vote for? Who do you think will get the Democratic nod to run against the Republican candidate*? A dark horse, such as Obama in 2008? (Although personally, having seen his speech at the DNC in 2004, I felt that he was the candidate to beat. Obviously I was right, proving once again that hindsight is 20/20.)

I've no idea who the Democrats will have to put against the Republican candidate... but then, I'm also nowhere near certain that it will be Sanders either.

*One may assume that President Trump will be running in 2020... but he may have been tossed out by then also. Or he might want to dump all that crap and just not run. He WILL be 74 then, and a lot of people have lost a crap ton of money trying to accurately predict Trump's actions.

At the moment, I'm mostly interested in listening and learning more about the field. If I had to pick today, I lean Warren / Harris / Gillibrand in no particular order. 

The reasons I won't vote for Sanders now, and also the reason why I don't think he'll beat Trump? 

First of all, Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. He's an independent who votes along Democratic lines for the most part. The problem is, if he runs as an Independent, which he should have in the last election, he'll split the votes.

Second of all, he's a socialist. Something which Republicans, especially right-wing ones, are not fans of. He's not likely to gain many votes from Republicans who can actually think for themselves and aren't fans of Trump. In other words, I think Trump is more likely to get re-elected if Sanders is the Democratic nominee.

Third, and I may be accused of ageism due to this, he's too old.Sanders will be 79 during the next inauguration, which is older than Ronald Reagan was at the end of his second term. The job ages you, and Trump already looks like he's aged 5 years, not 2.

Your non vote literally counts for nothing. 

It doesn't even stand for what you think it stands for because someone is going to end up winning.  At that point, it's a philosophical stand rather than an actual one.  Good on ya for taking one, but I think in this time we need everyone we can to stand against Trump and that, at the very least, means voting against him.  

In an election where less than .24% of the votes swung Michigan from Democrat to Republican, is it really worth it to sit out just because you have some philosophical disagreement with the Democratic candidate?   Every person that doesn't vote is, effectively, a positive for Trump and the Republicans.  They've been trying to suppress votes for decades.  Personally?  I think you're just playing into their hands. 

If Sanders gets the nomination, I'll either pick a third-party candidate, or do a write-in vote for whoever I think at the time should have gotten the nod over him.

I am a moderate independent. I vote for the person, not their party. I've voted Democrat in every Presidential election, but I've voted for *some* Republicans at other levels of government. However, I'm so fed up with both parties....

My take on things is: The Democrats have no balls, the Republicans no hearts, and neither has any brains. (That's referring to the politicians, NOT citizens in general.)

Seriously.

Just vote.

Sitting out, not voting, isn't an option in my book. You specifically said:

Can't agree with that.

The real purpose of voting is to influence public policy in directions you would like to see it go.  If you waste your vote on a candidate who cannot win, you are making it LESS likely that policies you support will be implemented.  It's sad that so many people fail to see this.