In 2008, Obama won the nomination with a coalition of African-Americans and young white liberals. Clinton tended to win the states with a high concentration of older white people. In 2016, Clinton largely flipped the switch by winning an extremely high percentage of the African-American vote, just as Obama had in 2008. While the most visible Sanders supporters were young white liberals, Bernie also did very well in states in which the electorate was predominantly older white people. The best example of this phenomenon is West Virginia; it went overwhelmingly to Clinton in 2008 and to Sanders in 2016.
What is going on here, and what does it mean?
It means that there is still a right-wing component of the Democratic Party that engages in white male identity politics in some of our red states. It also means that there is less support for Bernie’s left-wing agenda throughout the country than you would think when you watch the news and see video of his young, idealistic supporters. And, therefore, it should not be assumed that the Democratic Party would adopt Bernie’s platform in 2020 if Clinton loses in 2016.