Bernie Sanders might not win the nomination in the end but his sentiments are resonating with ascendant demographics that would eventually push political and public policy discussions into his directions regardless whoever takes the Oval Office.

To make this point, John Cassidy of The New Yorker Magazine writes, "Some political analysts seem taken aback that Sanders’s leftist language is resonating broadly among Democrats, particularly young ones, but they shouldn’t be surprised."

"But what really sets him apart isn’t his policy platform, which can be fairly described as shifting the United States toward the Scandinavian model of social democracy more rapidly than Clinton and other Democrats would; it’s his fiery rhetoric. In calling for a 'political revolution,' attacking the 'billionaire class,' and embracing the label 'democratic socialist,' Sanders is using language that has never been heard before in a Democratic Presidential primary. "

He further writes, "In a January poll of likely voters in the Iowa Democratic primary, forty-three per cent of respondents described themselves as “socialist.” And it isn’t just Iowa. A 2011 study by the Pew Research Center found that forty-nine per cent of millennials—defined as Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine—view socialism favorably, compared to forty-three per cent who view it unfavorably. "

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/bernie-sanders-and-the-new-populism