Bernie Sanders supporters canvass across Central Coast

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Fresh off a projected win in the Nevada caucuses, democratic front runner Sen. Bernie Sanders has supporters working to get the vote out here on the Central Coast.

“We’re going after permanent absentee voters and democrats, but we’re also trying to get the vote out for decline to state voters and people that typically haven’t voted,” Sanders supporter Grant Hill said.

Sanders gathered 53% of Latino caucus-goers in Nevada. Supporters here are hoping that will spread to Monterey County.

“Latino voters are really hearing the message about things like normalizing the path to citizenship for more people, and raising the minimum wage to $15 [an hour],” Sanders supporter Ana Diaz said.

Ana and her husband are from San Francisco, but were in the area for their anniversary and decided to canvass for their candidate of choice. He said he had a stroke and that is the main reason he’s getting behind Sanders plans for medicare-for-all.

“As a nurse, I’ve seen people come in and they can’t come up with a co-payment. They can’t get the insurance company to give the permission for the surgery they need,” registered nurse Joe Donahue said.

Some young supporters were out canvasing Sunday too, which is another group of voters the Sanders campaign has seen major support from.

“I think it's because he stands for something that is for our future," CSUMB student Nastasha Montero said. "We can’t afford it in this economy. We can’t afford anything in this capitalist nation we’ve created.”

The big projected win in Nevada comes after Sanders said Friday U.S. officials briefed him "about a month ago" on Russia's efforts to help his presidential campaign as part of Moscow's attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

A new CBS news poll finds 65% of registered voters nationwide think president trump will definitely or probably be reelected, including more than a third of democrats.