Lorraine Cook/THE REVIEW
University undergraduates show preference for Bernie Sanders above the other 2016 presidential candidates.
BY
MANAGING MOSAIC EDITOR
The University of Delaware is feeling the Bern.
Of university undergraduates who responded to a survey on political leanings and candidate preference, 42 percent said they would choose Bernie Sanders if they had to cast their vote on the day the survey was given.
Forty-six percent of respondents affiliate themselves with the Democratic Party. Twenty-six percent said they are independent and 25 percent affiliate themselves with the Republican Party. The remaining four percent of respondents selected “other.”
The poll found that 14 percent of respondents would not choose any of the Democratic or Republican candidates. Each Republican candidate polled below 14 percent. Hillary Clinton won the support of 18 percent of respondents, ranking closer to Republican candidates, or to no candidate at all, than to Sanders in terms of popularity with students.
Senior Anna Gill said she supported Clinton until she researched Sanders’ policies. The finance and music management major says Sanders’ commitment to inclusion won her respect.
“I realized I was supporting Hillary for all the wrong reasons,” Gill says. “But when I listened to Sanders, I found that his inclusion of so many diverse groups is inspiring and exactly what I desire in a candidate.”
Paul Davies, a journalism professor at the university, says Clinton’s lower-than-expected popularity with young women could be because she has been in the public eye for a longer time than Sanders, and because his platforms have greater novelty than hers.
“Sometimes part of the new car smell has sort of worn off on these candidates,” Davies, who has a background in political reporting, says. “Sometimes when you drive them off the lot, they lose their value.”
Davies also says that Sanders has faced less public scrutiny and criticism than Clinton.
An early 2016 Gallup poll shows that Sanders is better liked among white Democrats in comparison with their black or hispanic counterparts, while Clinton’s results show the exact opposite.
On the university’s Newark campus, about 75 percent of full-time undergraduate students and 73 percent of part-time undergraduate students are white, according to data published by the university’s Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. The data also shows that black and hispanic students make up less than 20 percent of either the full-time or part-time undergraduate populations.
Frustration with Washington, D.C., the job market and student loans may also play a role in Sanders’ popularity with young people, according to Davies. The fact that Sanders wants to reduce inequality may also have appeal, he says.
Tyler Davis, a freshman from New York, has yet to decide which candidate he would vote for, but would prefer a Republican president.
“It’s unique being a Republican in college, because the majority of college students are liberal Democrats based on the policies the candidates have,” Davis, a finance major, says. “For example, free college tuition for college students is something that Bernie Sanders supporters cling to, which simply won’t work.”
Sanders supporter Emily Karpov, a senior, supports the candidate not because of free tuition, but because she appreciates his values, inclusivity and determination to make positive change in the U.S., she says. The international relations major and Delaware native said she thinks he may be able to bring new senators into the political scene.
Senior and Delawarean JT Stevenson does not support any candidate. The English major said he originally believed Sanders would be no match for Clinton, but that has not been the case.
“A lot of people are focusing on Trump, but I have noticed a lot of fire between Sanders and Clinton,” Stevenson says. “There are memes out there that portray Sanders as being the genuine old guy, while Clinton is just trying to be cool and please the younger crowd of voters. I actually think that it’s pretty true.”
The online poll, conducted March 3-10 by Ben Yagoda’s ENGL307 class, included 667 University of Delaware undergraduates. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 points.
Jeffrey Maloney, Elyssa Sommer, Jill Swartzentruber and Andrew Zalles contributed reporting.
