Bernie Sanders' boasts of winning when voter turnout is high are 'mostly false,' says PolitiFact

Claims that large voter turnouts favor Sanders are mostly wrong.
(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders has urged his supporters to come out in droves, claiming that "we win when voter turnout is high, we lose when it is low." But according to PolitiFact, that isn't exactly the case — the Pulitzer Prize winning fact-checkers have called Sanders' boast "mostly false" based on the evidence:

Sanders did notch a few notable victories in high-turnout primaries, but it would be cherry-picking to focus only on primaries. Sanders has mostly won caucuses, which have produced the lowest turnout rates of 2016 across the board. And while Sanders did win the handful of states where Democratic turnout increased over 2008, these increases were tiny, casting doubt on how significant an accomplishment this is.[Sanders'] statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False. [PolitiFact]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.