Rich “Sugar Daddies” who fund the college education for one of their many girlfriends don’t seem like the typical Bernie Sanders supporters. Yet, a user survey from Seeking Arrangement, a site dedicated to setting up such relationships, suggests they are.
“Despite being card-carrying members of the 1 percent that Sanders so often rails against, 345 sugar daddies reported donating to the Vermont senator,” Ozy reported. In 2012, most donated to Barack Obama, according to Brook Ulrick, a spokesperson for the site.
Those men might have been more likely to donate to the candidate because of their “Sugar Babies.” Ben Jealous, a Sanders surrogate and strategist, told Ozy in April that older voters have converted to supporting Sanders “because of the presence of young voters in their life who are excited about Bernie.”
Romance isn’t the only reason men might donate to Sanders. Sanders often promotes free college, and sugar daddies are the ones funding tuition bills for their sugar babies.
It’s also about control, suggests Taylor Jones, a strategist who doesn’t think “sugar daddies give a damn,” and pointed out that the survey is a user poll. “Sugar daddies are more inclined to align themselves with the thinking of a Bernie Sanders because they want the control (that) money gives them over people,” he said.
Earlier this year, Saturday Night Live made a similar connection as to why millennial women were supporting Sanders over Hillary Clinton. “Typically, when young women trust some old dude who promises to pay for their college, it doesn’t end well,” Michael Che joked.
A USA Today/Rock the Vote poll from January showed that young women prefer Sanders to Hillary. Spring polls from Harvard IOP and Refinery 29 reflected the same.
