Bernie Sanders And Donald Trump Are Top Choices For College Students In New Poll
A new Axios/CollegeReaction.com poll of American college students puts Bernie Sanders in the lead with 22.5 percent approval among those surveyed. In second is Donald Trump with 17.3 percent support, with Elizabeth Warren trailing in third with 15.9 percent, Newsweek reports.
In fourth place is Joe Biden with 12.3 percent — a significant drop from the lead he held in April with 19 percent support. In fifth place is Andrew Yang with 9.3 percent support, and in sixth is Pete Buttigieg with 8.2 percent.
The rest of the candidates earned under 3 percent support from the students surveyed in the poll. In addition, Buttigieg was the only candidate aside from Sanders to gain more than one point in the survey since its October iteration.
With Sanders pulling ahead, it marks the first time that the Vermont Senator has led the poll. As for Warren, she held the lead in September with 19.5 percent support. Her decline mirrors other recent polls that show the Massachusetts Senator losing support due to what some believe is backlash from her handling of Medicare for All — either embracing it or backing away from it.
As for the top two, RealClearPolitics currently puts Sanders over Trump in an average of head-to-heads, with the 78-year-old holding 51.5 percent support over the real estate mogul’s 43 percent. In particular, one Emerson poll showed Sanders both tied for first and the only Democratic candidate beating Trump in a head-to-head.
New Emerson poll shows Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden tied in the lead nationally with Warren in third, trailing by 7 points.
It also shows that Bernie Sanders is the ONLY leading Democrat beating Trump head to head. pic.twitter.com/YWCrYUfnRN
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) November 21, 2019
Per Business Insider, a College Pulse and Chegg survey — as well as the thin margins of the 2016 election — suggests the outcome of the 2020 election may be determined by college students.
“A large number of college students, particularly female students, are motivated and believe the next election will be the most significant of their lives.”
Notably, the survey suggests that Democratic students are significantly more “sensitive” to the outcome of the 2020 election than Republican students. This sensitivity is particularly observed in female college students, with 66 percent of female respondents believing next year’s election is more important than those in the past, compared to 48 percent of male students.
Although the Insider report noted that college students aren’t “completely tuned in” to the presidential election just yet, it notes the “spike in youth voting” in the 2018 midterm election, with the most significant increase among female voters.
“Most students would prefer the Democratic candidate — regardless of who it is — over Trump, believe that the 2020 election is the most important in their lifetime, and believe in their power to affect the outcome,” the report concludes. “We may see the Democratic candidates planning a few more campus visits over the next year.”
