Bernie Sanders Says Voters Shouldn't Have to Choose Against Somebody

— -- Bernie Sanders told reporters Saturday that he is running for president because he wanted voters to have a "real choice," and he specifically mentioned his primary opponent Hillary Clinton's high disapproval ratings.

"I am running for president because I want to give the American people a real choice in this election. A choice not just to vote against somebody but to vote for a vision for where our great country can become," he said.

"It is very clear that Donald Trump's negative ratings are enormously high, unprecedented for a major party presidential candidate. And Secretary Clinton's negative ratings are also very, very high," he added.

A recent Quinnipiac national poll released this week, shows 49 percent of those polled have a strongly unfavorable view of Clinton. While that same poll shows 51 percent of those polled also have a strongly unfavorable view of Trump.

The comments came during a press conference in Los Angeles, where the underdog Democratic candidate reiterated his intention to lobby super delegates until the Democratic National Convention, and that in his opinion it will be a "contested convention," since super delegates will be needed to put either candidate over the threshold.

In many ways, the press conference was called so that Sanders could preemptively argue against any declarations from the press or party next week that Clinton had secured the nomination and that pledged delegates and super-delegates committed to her should not be counted together until they technically vote in July.

"For the media to be lumping together on Tuesday night the pledged delegates and the super-delegates is just not accurate," Sanders said. "Super-delegates make their final decision at the convention on July 25. Six long weeks from today."

So far, an overwhelming majority of super delegates have articulated their support for Clinton and showed little sign of shifting. While, as Sanders put it, "a trickle" of her party backers have said recently that they would wait to decide until after voting wraps, the senator would like need to flip a few hundred to win the nomination. Still, Sanders argued that anything could happen.

"We don't know what the world is going to look like five weeks from now," he said.

Sanders has called the current Democratic Party system "absurd" and promised to get rid of the super-delegate votes, but the fact remains that he would also need to win nearly 70 percent of the remaining pledged delegates as well to pull ahead of Clinton on that front. Sanders said he thinks he has a chance to win the majority of contests next Tuesday.