Bernie Sanders rallies his loyal Wisconsin following to get behind Joe Biden

KAUKAUNA - Eight years ago, Bernie Sanders was the favorite among Wisconsin Democrats, winning the Badger State's presidential primary over the party's eventual nominee but then losing four years later in the same contest.

Now, Sanders is back in Wisconsin on his own again. Not as a surrogate for President Joe Biden, but to try to reverse the Democratic Party's struggles with their voters' enthusiasm, which were compounded Thursday night by a disastrous performance by Biden during the presidential race's first televised debate.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday found that voter enthusiasm among Wisconsinites remains low , with 46% saying they’re very enthusiastic to vote, compared to 59% in June 2020. Those very enthusiastic to vote overwhelmingly support Trump, 61% to 39%.

That struggle "exists, and that is real, but that's an issue we're dealing with," Sanders told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday ahead of a stop at the Plumbers and Steamfitters United Association Local 400 headquarters in Kaukauna and before the debate took place.

To Demetri Lafkas, a 43-year-old ecologist from Green Bay, "ideally" it would be Sanders on the ballot in November.

"But under current circumstances I guess we're going to have to go with Biden," he said. "I love everything Bernie does, what he's done in the past and what he currently does. It's great to see him here."

Sanders uses that loyalty as a tool to boost enthusiasm for Biden. But he's not in Wisconsin campaigning with the Biden team, nor is he advertising his events as rallies for anyone on the ballot, including his U.S. Senate colleague Tammy Baldwin.

Even so, Biden's Wisconsin press secretary Timothy White said the president is excited to have Sanders in the state "to campaign for the one candidate in this race who is fighting for the working people: Joe Biden."

Sanders' pitch to voters here acknowledges the gaps in Biden's support.

"Look, I tell (voters) that, you might not like everything that Joe Biden does. I have very strong disagreements with Biden, for example, on what's going on in Gaza right now and support for (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu." On the other hand, Sanders said, "Biden has done a very good job in a number of areas."

"We are working together to lower the outrageous cost of prescription drugs. Biden has been very strong, making sure that it is women who should control their own bodies, and not government. And there's an existential issue out there, and that is climate change," he said. "And what I tell people is, look, if you allow Trump to win, what you are saying is you're supporting somebody who believes that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese, and that is absolutely insane."

Sanders noted Biden made history as the first president in the country's history to walk a picket line, joining United Auto Workers in their strike outside Detroit last year.

When asked about Baldwin's status in the race — holding a stronger lead in the Marquette poll over her Republican opponent, Eric Hovde, than Biden has over Trump — Sanders said Baldwin "has consistently understood that our job is to stand up for working families, and not the wealthy and the powerful. And I think this is resonating with the voters of Wisconsin."

Sanders, 81, is making more than half of a dozen stops across Wisconsin with his first rally in Racine County on Wednesday evening. There, he met with supporters who would rather see him on the ticket to take on former President Donald Trump. His message to them: Trump is worse than Biden.

Sanders' Kaukauna rally was one of three Wisconsin events geared toward union members. On Wednesday and Thursday, he held events at UAW halls in Mount Pleasant and Sheboygan.

According to the latest Marquette poll, union households were split evenly between Biden and Trump.

Scheduling events with union members was no accident, Sanders said.

"The point that I want to make to working people is that the contrast is extremely clear, especially to union people, that in Biden, you have probably the strongest pro-union president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt," Sanders told the Journal Sentinel. "The contrast between Biden and Trump is day and night."

Ronna Swift, 81, of Appleton said the president is doing a "terrific job" and sees Sanders' presence as motivating for Democrats.

"Bernie's always been about his platform, and Bernie has all the connections, and he's got seniority, and I think what he's doing now on the campaign trail shows what kind of person he is," Swift said. "They disagree on a number of things, but they both talk to each other and are longtime friends."

"This was a good day. The Democrats are the party of we, not the party of me, and we were all together today."

The economy was the top issue among Wisconsin voters surveyed in the latest Marquette poll, with 31% ranking it highest. More than 50% of voters saw Trump as the better candidate on the issue.

Sanders said the Biden administration hasn't done enough to emphasize its accomplishments, including lowering the cost of prescription drugs, funneling money into infrastructure improvements and shifting the country toward more renewable energy sources.

That's also not enough, Sanders said — Biden also needs to tell voters what he'd do with another four years.

"What I think the Biden people have got to recognize is that the American people are hurting," Sanders said. "Yes, we've seen progress, but you still have 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck. You have more income and wealth inequality in America than we've ever had."

To win over reluctant voters, Sanders said, the president should lay out a plan for a second term: raising the minimum wage, making it easier for workers to unionize, expanding Medicare coverage, expanding Social Security and launching a widespread effort to build affordable and low-income housing across the country.

Joe and Deb Scherer, who attended Thursday's rally, are supporting Trump in November but wanted to "see how far (Sanders is) going to go on his socialist program for the rest of the country."

"I think he's going to sugarcoat what the Democrats can do for the people," Deb Scherer added ahead of Sanders' rally. "It's very serious where our country is going. So, I don't like Biden. I don't like Bernie. I don't like them leading us towards socialism."

Around 250 people attended the event. Sanders spoke for about an hour and answered questions.

One of which was a 16-year-old Scott Frechette, who lives on the Menominee Reservation and attended the event with his grandmother, Nina White. Frechette asked Sanders to speak on the opioid epidemic.

“It’s something you hear (about) everyday, we have a very big crisis up (on the reservation)," Frechette said. “They're stories that hit close to home as well.”

Molly Beck, Jessie Opoien and Abra Richardson can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com, jessie.opoien@jrn.com and arichardson@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bernie Sanders rallies his loyal Wisconsin following to get behind Joe Biden