Presidential Polls 2016: Millennial Democrats Support Bernie Sanders

By Selena Hill

Although Hillary Clinton has maintained a strong lead over Bernie Sanders throughout the Democratic presidential primary race, a new poll shows the Vermont senator has won over the majority of young Democrats.

According to a new Harvard University Institute of Politics survey, more millennials between the ages of 18 to 29 favor Sanders over Clinton in the 2016 election. In the poll, which was conducted Oct. 30 to Nov. 9, 41 percent said they supported Sanders compared to 35 percent who said they backed the former secretary of state.

Meanwhile, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley earned less than 1 percent of support among the demographic, while another 22 percent said they are still undecided on a candidate in the primary election.

The poll also revealed that 66 percent of the millennial Democrats are indifferent to the fact that Sanders refers to himself as a “Democratic Socialist.” Whereas about 24 percent said it would make them “more likely” to support him and 9 percent said the title hurt the chances of them voting for Sanders.

Overall, the Harvard Institute poll shows that most young voters prefer a Democrat to win the 2016 election.

Polling data collected by RealClearPolitics shows that Clinton is nearly 25 points ahead of Sanders nationwide. However, he has a 4-point edge over the former first lady in the early-voting state of New Hampshire.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump, however, recieved the most support among Republican millennials with 22 percent, while Ben Carson came in second place with 20 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz both came in third place with 7 percent of the vote. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tied at 6 percent, while Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum each polled at 3 percent.