Bernie Sanders is by and large the most popular 2020 Democratic candidates among millennial Democratic primary voters, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.
More than half (52%) of voters under 35-years-old prefer the socialist, with Elizabeth Warren coming in second at 17%. Joe Biden, who is the Democratic front-runner in most other polls, trails behind at 11%.
Democratic primary voters under 35 years old via new Quinnipiac poll:
Democratic primary voters under 35 years old via new Quinnipiac poll:
Sanders 52%
Warren 17%
Biden 11%
Yang 7%
Gabbard 3%
Buttigieg 2%
Bloomberg 2%
Everyone else 1% or less— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) December 10, 2019
Admittedly, it’s always a bit risky to dive into subsamples, which are smaller, such that the results have larger margins of error than the overall survey. Still, Sanders’ lead seems safe to infer that young voters prefer the bold, aggressive policies backed by Sanders and Warren compared to the more balanced, establishment platform that Biden embodies.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Dubbed the Bernie Bros, young liberal activists have been turning out for Sanders in droves ever since he launched his first presidential campaign in 2016. They’re young, educated, and disillusioned, and Sanders’s anti-establishment platform holds an appeal that few Democratic candidates have been able to replicate.
One slight surprise is just how little of his support Pete Buttigieg takes from this younger set of voters. He’s barely a blip among millennial voters, whereas all other age groups give him something on the order of 11% or 12% support.
Warren tried, but it’s not working the way she had hoped. Her slide among younger voters continues, as she’d down from 19% in Quinnipiac’s Nov. 26 poll and 30% (versus Sanders’ 31%) in its late October poll.
Like Sanders, Warren has advertised herself as an anti-status-quo candidate with a populist streak. To hell with the corporations, the elite, the 1%, she says. But no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from big money and political corruption, Warren hasn’t been able to build an efficient grassroots coalition that can stay competitive with Sanders’s.
Perhaps Warren’s long-running ties to the Democratic establishment are the problem. After all, Sanders has made it clear that he’s willing to burn as many bridges as it takes. Warren, on the other hand, is still willing to build them.
Or perhaps her plan-for-everything platform is backfiring. Young voters disenchanted with the current political system don’t want to reform it; they want to destroy it. Comprehensive policies won’t be enough for this crowd. It’s too late for that, and if this poll is any indication, it’s too late for Warren, as well.
