Apologies if someone has written this up already, but I found a couple of interesting things in the Reuters/Ipsos poll that shows Sanders and Clinton nearly tied. While national polls are of limited use at this point of a primary election, there is one result that should have Clinton’s campaign very concerned: Bernie Sanders is crushing Hillary Clinton with younger voters.
All voters under age 35:
Sanders: 64%
Clinton: 28%
Female voters under 35:
Sanders: 68%
Clinton: 26%
That’s right. Sanders is performing better with young women than he is with young men. In fact, Sanders does better with women of all ages than he does with men, according to this poll. Among women, Sanders trails 48-46. Among men, he trails 51-40. What this means for the Bernie Bro narrative, I’ll let others decide. I am pretty sure it doesn’t mean young women are just doing it for attention from boys, though. That’s not very nice, Gloria! Maybe it has something to do with upper-class, middle-aged and older folks ridiculing them, though.
Bernie also leads among voters under 50. It isn’t until you start adding the 50+ vote that Clinton leads. There is a very clear generation gap when it comes to the Democratic primary. I have a few ideas for why that is, but I’ll turn that over to the comments section for analysis.
At the very least, Bernie has far exceeded any expectations set for him when he announced his run. He’s also exposing a serious credibility problem that the Democratic Party has with young voters, one the party needs to start paying serious attention to.
Sunday, Feb 7, 2016 · 3:24:41 AM +00:00 · SixSixSix
Update: I just want to reiterate that I am thrilled that Bernie Sanders has so many 35+ supporters as well. Likewise, I have no intention of denigrating any of Clinton’s younger supporters.
In fact, though I strongly support Bernie, I have no beef with Hillary supporters. My 77 year old grandmother says she’s voting for Hillary because it’s time for a woman President. I’m sure as hell not going to argue with her ;-)
