Democratic presidential candidate hopeful Hillary Clinton was asked on TV, on Tuesday, what the difference is between being a Democrat and a socialist. She could not come up with an answer.
Clinton, who is running against the openly socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), was asked by MSNBC host Chris Matthews: "what’s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat? Is that a question you want to answer or would you rather not, politically?”
After Clinton tried to avoid the question by saying Matthews should ask Sanders, he responded saying, "see, I’m asking you. You’re a Democrat, he’s a socialist. Would you like somebody to call you a socialist? I wouldn’t want someone calling me a socialist.”
“I’m not one,” she responded. "I’m a progressive Democrat who likes to get things done and who believes that we are better off in this country when we’re trying to solve problems together. Getting people to work together."
"There will always be strong feelings and I respect that, from, you know, the far right, the far left, libertarians, whoever it might be, but we need to get people working together. We’ve got to get the economy fixed, we’ve got to get all of our problems, you know, really tackled and that’s what I want to do,” Clinton said.
In response to Clinton's unwillingness to directly answer the question and state the difference, Matthews noted that he asked Democratic National Committee chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz the same question, and that she too would not answer.
Wasserman-Schultz was stumped by Matthews with the question last July, and shortly afterwards in August she still could not answer.
A June 2015 Gallup poll found that 50% of Americans said they would not vote for a socialist, making it the demographic group with the least support.