3 big trends explain Bernie Sanders' flame out in the 2020 Democratic primaries

• Sen. Bernie Sanders' losses in the latest primary voting adds to the defeats he saw on Super Tuesday.
• While those results contrast with the enthusiasm around Sanders' campaign, long-term trends in the electorate and in the Democratic Party hinted at the outcome.
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Bernie Sanders' defeat yesterday at the polls was predicted. The scale of his defeat was not.

While Biden's Super Tuesday momentum was certainly a factor in last night's rout, long-term trends played just as big a role.

Here are three that, in retrospect, always stood to make Sanders' climb to the nomination much steeper than in 2016.