--- title: Democratic Debate; Bernie Sanders Talks Electibillity description: Sanders says he can take a Republican in the general election. canonical: https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-05T05:38:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:38.395Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Sanders Echoes Cruz on Electability og:description: They both argue that turning out irregular voters is key. og:url: https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e6749831158b3b/69887c3ccf40a82118c41d23/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton And Bernie Sanders Debate In Durham, New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Sanders Echoes Cruz on Electability twitter:description: They both argue that turning out irregular voters is key. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e6749831158b3b/69887c3ccf40a82118c41d23/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Sanders Echoes Cruz on Electability ## Video: Best Split Screen Moments From The Fifth Democratic Debate [Watch (HLS stream): Best Split Screen Moments From The Fifth Democratic Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/a5OpVU9Y.m3u8) (3:32)  _Published 2016-02-05. The best split screen moments between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 5, 2016 5:38 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a Democratic debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016 in Durham, N.H. Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a Democratic debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016 in Durham, N.H.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 5, 2016 5:38 AM UTC Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz are on the opposite ends of the political spectrum. But on one subject, they sound very similar: their own electability. At Thursday’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire, the Vermont Senator was pressed by moderators on how he could win the general election. His response: By getting more irregular voters to show up. “Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited,” he said. “I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout.” Sanders’ argument echoed one that’s been made by Cruz about his conservative candidacy. “There are a lot of folks in Washington who argue that the way Republicans should win is that they should nominate a candidate from the mushy middle,” [Cruz told Fox News in 2015](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/09/an-awkward-exception-to-cruzs-recipe-for-winning-the-white-house/). “The way Republicans win is we paint in bold colors, not pale pastels—pale pastels is a path to losing.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/"},"headline":"How Sanders Echoes Cruz on Electability","datePublished":"2016-02-05T05:38:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:38.395Z","description":"Sanders says he can take a Republican in the general election.","url":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election topic","Bernie Sanders","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e6749831158b3b/69887c3ccf40a82118c41d23/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e6749831158b3b/69887c3ccf40a82118c41d23/timepol-democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton And Bernie Sanders Debate In Durham, New Hampshire","caption":"Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a Democratic debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4, 2016 in Durham, N.H.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/","name":"How Sanders Echoes Cruz on Electability"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Best Split Screen Moments From The Fifth Democratic Debate","description":"The best split screen moments between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/a5OpVU9Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-05T05:39:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/a5OpVU9Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/","duration":"PT3M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4208978/bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-electability/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```