EnglishFrançaisDeutschItalianoEspañolPortuguêsРусскийTürkçeΕλληνικάMagyarفارسیالعربيةShqipRomânăქართულიбългарскиSrpski
USA

Clinton and Sanders get personal in heated New York debate

Access to the comments Comments
By Catherine Hardy  with Reuters
Clinton and Sanders get personal in heated New York debate

If you are both screaming at each other, the viewers won't be able to hear either of you

  • Rowdy debate in Brooklyn
  • Clashed on policy issues
  • Clinton way ahead in the polls

The news

US Democrat presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have gone head-to-head in a final debate before next Tuesday’s crucial New York primary.

It was a home match for both.

Sanders was born in New York State. Clinton served eight years as its Senator.

Pump up the volume

It was a bruising encounter.

The Democrats have so far avoided the personal attack politics of the rival Republican camp.

But, with so much at stake, the tone of their debate has changed in recent days.

The rivals shouted in unison while an evenly-split but rowdy crowd at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard roared its support.

What did they clash on?

This was the fifth one-on-one debate between Clinton and Sanders.

The mounting pressure of their White House marathon began to show.

They clashed on:

  • Wall Street
  • gun control
  • the minimum wage
  • support for Israel
Hillary Clinton
  • 68
  • Leads Sanders by 251 bound delegates
  • Leads by almost 700 if “superdelegates” included
Bernie Sanders
  • 74
  • Has won 7 of the last 8 Democratic nominating contests
  • However, these are small states that do not eat into Clinton’s lead

What do the polls say?

The last nine opinion polls taken in New York state show Clinton with a double-digit advantage over Sanders.

  • Sanders – 173,000 mentions on Twitter
  • 55% were positive
  • Clinton – 191.000 mentions on Twitter
  • 56% positive

(Source: Brandwatch)

2,383 delegates are needed to win the nomination to represent the party in the presidential election on November 8.

Clinton so far has 2.4 million votes more than Sanders in the state-by-state nominating race.

What they are saying

“Does Secretary Clinton have the intelligence, the experience to be president? Of course she does, but I do question her judgement,” – Bernie Sanders.

“Well, the people of New York voted for me twice to be their senator from New York and President Obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of State for the United States” – Hillary Clinton.

“If you are both screaming at each other, the viewers won’t be able to hear either of you,” – moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN keeps his cool.