At the beginning of the race, I assumed Sanders would be like the "RON PAUL 2008" campaign, with a small but vocal group of supporters. I did not think a self-described socialist would be viable in a general election. (Remember how Obama was called a "soshulist"?)
Suppose DNC didn't pick the favorite, and there was a mainstream alternative to Clinton with a favorable approval rating (e.g. Biden). Would Sanders still have garnered this much support?
Had Sanders been the nominee, I would have voted for him: not for his leftist stances but because he seemed like he could be trusted with not running the country into the ground. I stayed home this election.
Many votes for the Libertarian party would've also gone to Bernie Sanders. Then a lot of the Trump supporters are actually bernie supporters who feel like the DNC betrayed us by sabotaging the whole thing.. There's a LOT of hate and anger in the democratic party right now.
On facebook I see a shitstorm of anger from Clinton supporters against Bernie supporters blaming US for her loss as if WE are responsible for her being a shitty politician. As if it's not HER responsibility to WIN our votes and CONVINCE us she's the best candidate. She obviously couldn't do that.
So, yes Bernie definitely had a good chance of winning. He also was polling about 10 points above Clinton against Trump in most states. He also won Michigan AND Wisconsin which Trump carried.