Hillary Clinton slips, Bernie Sanders rises among young Democrats: poll

Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont has picked up 40 points of support from young Democrats and has pulled ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among that group, according to a poll released Thursday by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.

Mr. Sanders had a 6-point, 41 percent to 35 percent edge over Mrs. Clinton among 18- to 29-year-olds, according to the survey.

That’s a big change from a Harvard IOP poll released in April, when Mr. Sanders was at 1 percent and Mrs. Clinton was at 47 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 11 percent and Vice President Joseph R. Biden at 8 percent.

About two-thirds of young Democrats said the fact that Mr. Sanders is a self-described “Democratic socialist” doesn’t make a difference to them. Twenty-four percent said it makes them more likely to support Mr. Sanders, and 9 percent said it makes them less likely to support him.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley — the only major Democratic contender remaining in the 2016 race — was at less than 1 percent. In the survey released in April, Mr. O’Malley had been at 3 percent.

Overall, 56 percent of young Americans in the survey released Thursday said they prefer that a Democrat win the White House in 2016, compared to 36 percent who said they prefer to see a Republican win. That’s comparable to the 55 percent who preferred a Democrat and 40 percent who preferred a Republican in the survey released in April.