- Bernie Sanders has enjoyed the support of young voters in 2016, and the same was true on Super Tuesday.
- But turnout among young voters on Super Tuesday was low across the board, and this hurt Sanders big time as former Vice President Joe Biden came out the big winner.
- Exit polls showed only about 1 in 8 voters were between the ages of 18 and 29 years old.
- Exit polls showed a huge portion of voters between 18 and 29 backed Sanders in Texas (58%), for example, but this demographic constituted just 15% of the electorate. Biden edged out Sanders in Texas.
Young voters overwhelmingly supported Sen. Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the massive gains Vice President Joe Biden made across the board. This was linked to low turnout among this demographic.
The youth surge Sanders needed to win big just didn’t materialize.
Exit polls showed only about 1 in 8 voters were between the ages of 18 and 29 years old, per the Washington Post. Median support among this group for Sanders in Super Tuesday states was 58%, and for Biden 17%.
But almost two-thirds of voters were 45 or older, the Post found, and a median of 42% of voters between 45 and 64 supported Biden, compared to 20% for Sanders. And a median of 48% of voters 65 and older supported Biden, while a median of 15% of Super Tuesday voters in this group backed Sanders.
The final results for California, the most delegate-rich state (415 pledged delegates up for grabs), are not in. Sanders had a fairly sizable lead of about 34%, compared to 25% for Biden, with most of the vote in on Wednesday morning.
Young voters definitely played a role in Sanders' success in California, but they still participated in underwhelming numbers. Washington Post exit polls showed 57% of voters between 18 and 29 supported Sanders in California, but . they only constituted 14% of the electorate.
Biden also narrowly edged out Sanders in Texas, a delegate-rich state (228 pledged delegates to the convention) where the Vermont senator was expected to do well. Like California, the Post's exit polls showed a huge portion of voters between 18 and 29 backed Sanders in Texas (58%), but this demographic constituted just 15% of the electorate. Meanwhile, 42% of voters between 45 and 64 supported Biden, and this group constituted 38% of voters.
USA Today exit polls showed similar trends, and found that young voters did not show up at the polls in the same numbers as 2016 in five southern states that Biden won: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. These states don't individually have as many pledged delegates as California, but Biden won by huge margins in all of them. The proportional allocation of delegates means that Biden cleaned up in the South, which is why he emerged the big winner on Super Tuesday.
In short, young voters turned out in low numbers across the board, and it hurt Sanders a lot.
The delegate count is currently at 461 for Biden and 404 for Sanders, according to Decision Desk HQ, with 1,991 needed to win the Democratic nomination.
