It's a bit of a lengthy explanation that might sound a bit opinipnated, and I'm spellcheck-free here on mobile so sorry for any syntax errors so forgive any spelling.

The first point you bring up is that politicians tend to promise things on the trail but later forsake those goals for whatever reason. Now where Bernie Sanders (to me, and here's the opinionated part) differs is that, from what I can tell about his voting and political record, he does what he says. The views he is discussing now are consistant throughout interviews, appearances, emails, and most importantly a political record going back to thirty years.

This is what most other US politicians (and I'm more than sure any other nation's for that matter) lack. Honesty and consistancy are a rare trait indeed, and political analysts' and pundits' heads are exploading everywhere because most of them have never seen this before (hence some of the dialouge calling Bernie crazy/unorthadox etc. There's a John Stewart clip that goes over it pretty well https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HnaqrepHrtc).

No onto the second part of the question: Can he win? Yes. Why? There's a lot of dialouge out there that's positive but doesn't address the strengths HRC has, the later I think should be the center piece of any "can Bernie Win?" debate, but I'll go over both. The positive non-HRC perspective is: Bernie Sanders acts and votes honest, he has strong grassroots support, in every election he's been a candidate in he's won despite horrible odds, hos main campeign issue is campeign finance reform which seems to be the largest issue to Americans during this election.

The HRC perspective is this: In 2008, pundits and political analysists were saying the same things about Obama and Hillary that they're saying about Bernie and Hillary now. Common wisdom suggests that history will repeat itself. Hillary is indecisive and has a moderatly conservative voting record throughout her career, but her tone on issues seems to change around election time. Almost every person I've talked to does not trust Hillary. On that note, Hillary is currently seen as a best option due to her moderatism on issues and (mind you this is just the dialoige I've had with people) will supposidly fair a better chance in generals, but so far Bernie's proven to have stronger cross-platform support.

I think the key thing to look at is the pro-Hillary dialouge mostly consists of inevitability, and settling for a canidate that can defeat the Republicans so the nation doesn't turn red (American conservative red, not European socialist red, mind you.)

But that's a flimsy dialouge that's unispired. Verry objectivly speaking, it only works when the majority people believe that Bernie can't get elected.

It will take people (much like on this subreddit) to give the majority of America the belief that Bernie can wun to overcome that. It will take massive crowds at Bernie rallies, it will take debates, interviews and exposure and I think it can happen.

HRC's advantages are name exposure and popularity, that's giving her a big lead now, but Bernie can only get more and more media and popular exposure as time goes on, the big question is: How much? When his campeign started, he was a joke, the dialouge in only a month's time has shifted dramatically in his favor. I don't see why it won't get better.

Another thing (this plays into the honesty appeal) is that he has verry respectfull, non-personal opinions about other politicians and says nothing less, he constantly pledges to not run negative political adds and never will. The advantage of this is: A) People like this, Red, Blue, Everyone. B) He can't be attacked without it blowing up in the attacker's face. There is no "Bernie threw the first punch" line to be found and the general American public will be privy to that on a significant level.

Working against him is that he openly identifies as a Democratic Socialist. According to polls though, 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist president, that, and the fact his honesty gets alot of peoples attention along with just how clear and openly he explains this label might outwiegh that. But I can only hope.

As a young American, I've never really lived in a time where this country seemed to be going places, this guy gives me hope, and I'm sure a lot of people feel hopefull to. That's somthing Hillary doesn't give people, the best she does from what I've experienced is that she can maintain the current status quo, which isn't a survival method to keep voters wanting you.

So to answer your second question: I think he has a.good chance on his current path, someone.

I hope that was informative, it may have been a little opinionated but I tried my best to give you my rational view on the issues