Hillary hasn’t been doing herself any favors with the youth vote lately. Bernie Sanders has a commanding lead with young voters, 76 percent to 23 percent, according to a recent McClatchy-Marist poll. But such support is likely not enough to earn Sanders the nomination.
Though Hillary’s lead with voters over age 60 is not as high, at 65 to 29 percent, she still can boast about having the support from a high-voting demographic. Older voters not only dislike Sanders — they vote more than his youth supporters, noted The Washington Post’s Philip Bump.
In addition to the McClatchy-Marist poll, there are exit polls where “every single state” shows that “the oldest Democrats support Sanders less than the youngest.” Bump later notes:
Hillary still managed to win states where she lost the youth vote badly. This is because she can afford to lose young voters.
Of 15 exit polls where Hillary won, those voters 45 and older account for a majority in all the states and are 60 percent or more of the voting population in 11 states. She won with voter 65 and older, her best group, by 70 percent or higher in 11 states, and by 80 percent or higher in seven states.
Hillary having trouble with young people includes young women as well. And yet her older feminist supporters, not seeming to grasp why young women might vote along age lines instead of their gender, operate as sore winners, berating younger women to support Clinton.
“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” Madeleine Albright told the crowd at a rally for Hillary in New Hampshire in February. Around the same time, Gloria Steinem suggested young women only support Bernie Sanders to meet boys. “When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,'” she told Bill Maher.
Hillary went on to lose young women ages 18-29 in New Hampshire to Sanders, 82 percent to 18 percent.
More recently, former ABC anchor Carole Simpson also ranted against young voters, particularly young women, for not holding her same position of supporting Hillary. She equated being “entitled” with supporting Sanders.
While Hillary has won non-white voters in many states, her winning demographics also reflect Republican stereotypes and their supporters as being old white men. She has won with white voters and men in 10 states.
She may be winning with the voting demographic, but if Hillary hopes to definitively win the nomination and general election, she may wish to improve her outreach. A match-up against Donald Trump in November will give Hillary the youth vote, but she could still be at risk with those voters who stay home or vote for a third-party candidate, particularly in swing states.
