# Democratic March Madness - North Semifinal 1 - Biden/Sanders
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [February 15, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600 "2019-02-15T16:15:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/1 "2019-02-15T16:15:03Z")
Round 1, Democratic Playoff Tournament
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/2 "2019-02-15T16:17:53Z")
How is this seeded? You usually don’t throw the top contenders against each other in the first round.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/3 "2019-02-15T16:18:56Z")
I voted for Joe but I think they’re both too old. And they’re probably both better as cheerleaders and advisors than they are as presidential candidates, with Joe probably being the vastly superior political advisor and Bernie being the better spiritual guide.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/4 "2019-02-15T16:22:06Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#):
>
> How is this seeded? You usually don’t throw the top contenders against each other in the first round.
538’s ranking of popularity (see the 538 column mentioned in the master post). Bernie did not fare well.
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/5 "2019-02-15T16:54:57Z")
I think you read that table wrong. It’s ranked in order of “expected” approval vs. actual approval. Bernie is the second most popular after Biden.
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### Author:  [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/6 "2019-02-15T16:55:14Z")
Yet another poor pairing. This whole thing was set up terribly.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/7 "2019-02-15T17:03:52Z")
Everyone stop bitching about the seedings. No one’s forcing you to vote.
Let it be a fun distraction during the doldrums. We could do one every quarter or so until things get serious in January.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/8 "2019-02-15T17:09:46Z")
Everybody always hates on the Selection Committee.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/9 "2019-02-15T17:13:17Z")
Point of clarification: Is this our preference for President, or our preference for the Democratic nominee? If I could wave a magic wand and put whomever I wanted into the White House, I’d rather have Sanders than Biden, but if this person still has to face off against Trump, I think that Biden’s odds would probably be enough better that I’d rather have him as the nominee.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/10 "2019-02-15T17:19:43Z")
I don’t want to speak for the OP but I chose to vote on which of those TWO people in the poll I would prefer and on no other criteria. Presumably, it’ll all come out in the wash.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/11 "2019-02-15T17:38:44Z")
No one is shocked I voted Biden.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/12 "2019-02-15T17:46:13Z")
I kind of surprised myself by voting Sanders, really. But Biden - nice guy though he is - is clearly a part of the past. Sanders at least represents a change from past ways of working.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/13 "2019-02-15T17:46:19Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> I don’t want to speak for the OP but I chose to vote on which of those TWO people in the poll I would prefer and on no other criteria. Presumably, it’ll all come out in the wash.
As OP: yes. Consider this as the only election, and with only 2 names on the ballot.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/14 "2019-02-15T19:17:33Z")
OK then, so voted.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/15 "2019-02-15T22:10:16Z")
They are both really, really old.
I like Joe Biden, but he doesn’t have that much to recommend him personally.
Bernie has a very large, very vocal movement of people who want his ideas & policies. I’m afraid it’s going to be him whether we like it or not; given a choice of these two, I’m jumping on the Bernie bandwagon.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/16 "2019-02-15T23:34:43Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> I kind of surprised myself by voting Sanders, really. But Biden - nice guy though he is - is clearly a part of the past. Sanders at least represents a change from past ways of working.
Is “the past” really so bad? I like hope and change as much as the next guy, but I think it’s a fallacy to say the old ways were terrible. \* Return to normalcy\* might be a winning agenda in 2020.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/17 "2019-02-16T15:01:49Z")
Lord help me I just voted for Bernie.
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### Author:  [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/18 "2019-02-18T02:19:11Z")
They’re both too old IMHO–if either swerves two terms he’d be in his late eighties at the end of term 2–and I think much of the enthusiasm for Biden will fade if he actually declares himself a candidate. Still, he has a good deal of stuff going for him and he could be a formidable opponent for Trump. I picked Biden.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/19 "2019-02-18T05:41:51Z")
Surprised to see Biden winning but voted Bernie.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2019, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-march-madness-north-semifinal-1-biden-sanders/829600/20 "2019-02-18T05:44:36Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> Surprised to see Biden winning but voted Bernie.
Sanders is yesterday’s news. Biden is the fresh face in this contest