Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders earlier this week lashed out at Republicans, saying that they use issues to divide voters.

After speaking to roughly 2,000 people in Dubuque, Iowa, the Vermont senator was asked by a reporter why people “vote against their economic self-interests.”

“I think the Republicans have done a very good job over the years dividing people on a million issues,” Sanders answered.

“They divide people on gay marriage. They divide people on abortion. They divide people on immigration.”

“What my job is, and it's not just in blue states, is to bring working people together. We have an agenda that I believe can bring people together,” he added.

Sanders also refused to criticize Hillary Rodham Clinton, his closest rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.