Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders say they can beat Donald Trump

US Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (left) and Senator Bernie Sanders (right) argue during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan in Flint, Michigan, on Sunday. — AP

Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton sparred in a debate on Sunday over who had the best chance to beat Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, and mocked the level of discourse in the Republican White House race.

Near the end of a Michigan debate that featured sharp clashes over trade and the auto industry bailout, as well as a lengthy discussion of religion, Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders both said they could not wait to face the brash billionaire in the November 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

“I think Donald Trump’s bigotry, his bullying, his bluster, are not going to wear well on the American people,” Ms Clinton said. “We have to end the divisiveness, we have to unify the country.”

Mr Sanders said he would “love” to run against Mr Trump and noted many opinion polls showed him faring better against him than Ms Clinton did. He and Ms Clinton urged voters to compare the substance of their debate with the Republican versions, which last week featured name-calling and Mr Trump defending his penis size.

“We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money in mental health,” Mr Sanders said, then cracked a joke — “And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.”

Mr Trump frequently says he will beat either Ms Clinton or Mr Sanders. “I am the one person that she does not want to run against,” he said of Ms Clinton on Saturday.

The debate took place as Mr Sanders beat Ms Clinton in the Maine caucuses to bounce back into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio won the Republican primary in Puerto Rico, defeating Mr Trump. Mr Sanders’ victory in Maine is his third of the weekend after winning Kansas and Nebraska.

Contrary to general expectations that Ms Clinton would have a smooth run during the nomination process, Mr Sanders has emerged as a strong opposition to her White House ambitions.

“Your story is voting for every disastrous trade agreement, and voting for corporate America. Did I vote against the Wall Street bailout When billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy, they went to Congress and said, ‘please, we’ll be good boys, bail us out’. You know what I said I said, ‘Let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street’. It shouldn’t be the middle class of America,” said 74-year-old Sanders.

“But ultimately, if you look at our records, I stood up to corporate America time and time again. I understood that these trade agreements were going to destroy the middle class of this country. That is one of the major differences that we have,” Mr Sanders said.