Calls grow for Bernie Sanders to run for president in 2020 after Donald Trump victory

(Getty)

Emotions have oscillated between shock and disappointment for Democratic supporters this morning after learning their 45th President would not be the first woman ever elected to the White House.

There were tears after Donald Trump stormed to victory and reports Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and others were spotted crying backstage after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat.

But in the midst of disappointment, there was also defiance and hope. A resurgence of support for Bernie Sanders is now coursing through some corners and almost immediately after the results of the election were announced the issue of whether Mr Sanders could have stood against the President-elect had he secured the Democratic nomination became a burning question.

Now the socialist former mayor, 74, is being handed a mandate from his supporters - step forward once again and run for president in 2020.

Mr Sanders' policies centred around closing the wealth inequality gap across the US, creating access to free health care and education, creating a living wage, tackling racial inequality and introducing a “fair and humane” immigration policy. He ran a campaign that was essentially the polar opposite of Mr Trump’s, who vowed to repeal Obamacare and promised to start deporting millions of undocumented immigrants within his first hour in office.

Mr Sanders would be 78 by the next election, making the prospect of him running highly unlikely.

But that hasn’t deterred his most ardent supporters.

The calls come as a series of polls conducted suggest Mr Sanders would have had a better chance of defeating Mr Trump than Ms Clinton.

Mr Sanders was enlisted by Ms Clinton to help woo voters in the crucial swing state of Ohio - a move that ultimately proved unsuccessful when it voted for Mr Trump.

Like Ms Clinton, Mr Sanders enjoyed high-profile support and many found his decision to step down from the Democratic nomination difficult to accept. Susan Sarandon was one of a number of his supporters to say she would not vote for Ms Clinton because “I don’t vote with my vagina”.