Noam Chomsky would “absolutely” choose Hillary Clinton over the Republican nominee if he lived in a swing state, but her primary challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, “doesn’t have much of a chance,” the MIT professor and intellectual said in a recent interview.
Chomsky, who lives in the blue state of Massachusetts, said he would vote for Clinton if he lived in a swing state such as Ohio.
“Oh absolutely…my vote would be against the Republican candidate,” Chomsky told Al Jazeera English’s Mehdi Hasan in a two-part interview — part of which will air Friday on “UpFront.”
Chomsky cited “enormous differences” between the two major political parties. “Every Republican candidate is either a climate change denier or a skeptic who says we can’t do it,” Chomsky said. “What they are saying is, ‘Let’s destroy the world.’ Is that worth voting against? Yeah.”
The MIT academic, a self-described libertarian socialist, called Sanders “a New Dealer” rather than a “socialist,” and praised him overall but offered a grim view for his campaign.
“I agree with him in a lot of things, not in other things,” he said. “I frankly think that in our system of mainly bought elections he doesn’t have much of a chance, but if he were elected I think he would — of the current candidates — I think he’d be the one who would have, from my point of view, the best policies.”
Chomsky has signaled support for Sanders throughout the past year, speculating before Sanders launched his campaign that he could endorse him. Chomsky has also contributed to Sanders’ campaigns in the past.