While Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee, it’s Bernie Sanders who dwarfed all other candidates among youth voters.
A report from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement analyzed 21 state primaries before June 1 with youth voter data and found that Sanders won more than 2 million votes from those under 30. Donald Trump and Hillary combined won fewer than 1.6 million votes.
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Of the 21 states, Sanders had his biggest percentage from New Hampshire, his popularity bleeding over from his home state of Vermont. Hillary badly lost the state with younger voters, including young women, thanks to disparaging comments from older supporters Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem, who chastised young women for not supporting their candidate.
Unfortunately for Sanders, young voters are the least likely to vote and those who voted weren’t enough to hand him the nomination.
Those who voted weren’t deterred by Hillary’s vote lead. Sanders increased his overall lead as the campaign progressed, The Washington Post reported, which also compared the numbers in mid-March.
The CIRCLE report studied Trump with young voters more in-depth. Like Hillary, he fared better with older voters, but won more youth votes than she did, unusual for a Republican candidate. His strongest support comes from young people without a college degree.
Trump earned 52 percent of the youth vote in Pennsylvania and 47 percent of the youth vote in Indiana, as well as 45 percent of the youth vote in Mississippi, which was one of the few states where Hillary beat Bernie among millennials.
Hillary also had to compete with Sanders during the primary, however. With him gone, her numbers against Trump could improve. Trump also risks losing with young people because young women and non-white millennials, who view Trump unfavorably, comprise about 70 percent of the youth electorate. Young women are also more likely to vote than young men.
Fortunately for Trump, he has managed to earn more youth votes than previous Republicans. He averaged 33 percent during the primaries, compared to John McCain’s 29 percent in 2008 and Mitt Romney’s 28 percent in 2012.
