Frerichs: Democrats unite behind Clinton at convention
Illinois News Network — July 27, 2016Illinois Treasurer and Hillary Clinton delegate Michael Frerichs said he is seeing a mostly unified Democratic Party at this week’s Democratic National Convention.
He said that, while he does come across some diehard Bernie Sanders supporters, they mostly agree that Hillary is a better alternative to Donald Trump.
There’s some people out there who probably want to fight this a little while longer, but I think the Republican National Convention last week did an awful lot to unify the Clinton and Sanders supporters here in Philadelphia, he said.
Frerichs said he thought the heat may have contributed to what he called a lack of protesters.
There was a lot of talk of protests here, he said. I haven’t seen an awful lot of that. I don’t know if it’s because people have come together; or because if there’s a heat index over 100 degrees. People just don’t want to be outside marching right now.
According to Politico, the protest group Occupy DNC has permits for 8,000 protesters in a nearby park, and the group plans to march on the convention daily. The group’s Facebook page touted more than 30,000 members.
A recent Pew Research study showed 90 percent of Sanders supporters polled would support Clinton in a head-to-head general election with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The convention began Monday afternoon and will end on Thursday night when Clinton is expected to accept the party’s nomination for president. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Wednesday night.