Sanders supporters: you were robbed (sort of)

You know, it’s clear that the press is not the objective reporters of fact we learned about in school, but the AP’s declaring Clinton to be the Democratic nominee last night, just before the key primaries, really takes the cake.  This is old news by now, but the AP announced yesterday that it had re-tallied its numbers and moved a few formerly-undecided superdelegates into the Clinton column, to determine that she had clinched the nomination.  Given that the superdelegates have not actually voted, this is basically the equivalent of declaring a victor based on polling, even if in this case it’s a sort of polling of very specific voters who are unlikely to change thier minds.

Today Ann Althouse speculated that this could have the unexpected effect of energizing Sanders voters and keeping Clinton voters at home.  But, in fact, in California, a race that was neck-and-neck according to Real Clear Politics’ poll averages (Clinton up by 2, 44.7 to 45.7), broke decisively for Clinton; as I write, Real Clear Politics is reporting a margin of 63.1% to 35.7%.

This is brutal.

Now, Sanders’ candidacy was basically a fantasy that extended long beyond anyone every expected.  But the AP “clinch” report yesterday feels like such a blatant putting-ones-fingers-on-the-scale event, to have taken races that were polling so evenly and transformed them into blowouts.

It’s disgusting that “objective” reporting can seemingly have such a significant impact on elections.

Bleh.