Pete Buttigieg claimed he was a fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders when he was younger.
CBS News host Tony Dokoupil grilled the 37-year-old South Bend mayor during a Thursday interview about why he did not “have a majority of young voters in this country,” given that he is the youngest candidate on the ballot, and how he may be “out of touch.” “No, but it is certainly the case that often younger candidates tend to attract more support from older voters,” Buttigieg said.
“It’s almost as bad as minority voters. What explains that gap?” the CBS News host responded.
Buttigieg then explained away his low support by saying he also supported Sanders when he was young. “There is going to be a continued process to earn support across the coalition, but it’s certainly the case that many of the younger voters are more attracted to — for example, the Sanders campaign definitely has more young voters,” he said. “I was a big fan of Bernie Sanders when I was 18 years old.”
The mayor also defended his decision not to support abolishing all student loan debt by saying his household has “six figures of student debt.” “But that doesn’t mean I can just say we’re going to make it all go away and it’s all free now,” he said.
Buttigieg has been gaining in polls recently, becoming fourth nationally in the Democratic presidential primary according to RealClearPolitics. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 2% of voters between 18-34 support the mayor for president.
[Read more: Impeachment set to leave Buttigieg as only top-tier 2020 Democrat campaigning full time]
