Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said that many of his state primary losses were because “poor people don’t vote,” according to a transcript of his interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd.
In the segment, set to air on Sunday, Todd asked Sanders why nearly all of the primaries in states with the highest levels of income inequality have been won by his rival, Hilary Clinton.
“Well, because poor people don’t vote. I mean, that’s just a fact,” Sanders said. “That’s a sad reality of American society. And that’s what we have to transform.”
Sanders continued to discuss how the U.S. has one of the lowest voter-turnout rates in the world. His campaign has “done a good job bringing young people in,” Sanders said.
“I think we have done, had some success with lower income people. But in America today, the last election in 2014, 80 percent of poor people did not vote,” he said.
“If we got a voter turnout of 75 percent, this country would be radically transformed,” he added.
On the program, Sanders also discussed the Republican Party’s strategy to stop Donald Trump’s nomination at a round table with Katie Packer, chair of the leading anti-Trump group, “Our Principles PAC,” and Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee.