The big focus during this convention week for Democrats has been on party unity. So many are going Trump with doom and gloom predicting that the Sanders supporters will go out and vote Trump. But when we compare 2016 to 2008, I see a huge sign of hope.

A new poll released yesterday showed 90% of Sanders supporters saying they would vote for Hillary Clinton. Let’s compare that to a similar poll released the day the convention started in 2008:

But there is some bad news for Obama. The poll showed that 66 percent of Clinton supporters — registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee — are now backing Obama

So we are sitting at 10% of Bernie backers willing to vote Trump or not-Clinton this year, versus 34% who would vote McCain or not-Obama in 2008. That’s a YUGEEEE turn around. 

And I know a lot of people have been focusing on Sanders supporters interviewed last night saying they will vote for Trump. Again, I take you in my time machine back to August 2008:

The lesson? If the media has a narrative they want to create, well it’s not all that hard.

Another thing to consider between these two years is the cool down period – that period of time from the last primary vote until the convention. This year the last primary was Washington DC on June 14, with the convention starting July 25. That’s 42 days for people to come to grips with the outcome.

Flashback to 2008. Montana and South Dakota finished out the voting season on June 3. Meanwhile the convention didn’t start until August 25. That was 73 days for Clinton supporters to come to grips that their candidate lost. 

When you consider all of this, I would say the Democrats are sitting rather well right now.