Younger voters who have been the backbone of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign support, would easily shift to Hillary Rodham Clinton as the nominee and vote for her over Republican Donald Trump by a margin of 61 percent to 25 percent, according to Harvard University’s latest Institute of Politics survey.
The poll released Monday shows that voters age 18-29 are expected to stick to their Democratic ways, preferring a generic Democrat in the White House 61 percent to 33 percent for a Republican, a huge blow to the GOP which expected to win over some millennials.
“This was the year where the Republican Party was expected to compete” with Democrats, said Harvard Institute of Politics Polling Director John Della Volpe. He noted that Republicans hoped to pick up about 40 percent of the youth vote, but in a Trump-Clinton race they appear to actually lose voters when compared to the 2012 race.
Worse, Trump underperforms with Republican millennials, found the poll. “Among young Democrats, Clinton leads Trump by 78 points, 83 percent to 5 percent, but among Republicans, Trump leads by only 44 points, 57 percent to 13 percent.
Della Volpe found a better picture for the Democrats.
First, the poll showed growing support for President Obama, whose recent approval rating should help Democratic candidates in the fall election. The president’s approval rating is at 55 percent in the Harvard IOP poll, the highest of any recent surveys.
The survey also suggested that the Democrats should be able to quickly unify once Clinton, as expected, shores up the presidential nomination.
And in a shift, more students self-identified as Democrats over Independents. According to the survey, 40 percent of younger voters say they are Democrats, 36 percent independents, and just 22 percent Republicans.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
