Sanders Holds Majority Youth Vote Nationwide
Photo courtesy of berniesanders.com

Sanders Holds Majority Youth Vote Nationwide

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have been neck and neck for most of the Democratic presidential primaries, but Sanders has held an overwhelming percentage of youth votes throughout the campaign.

According to data provided by CNN Politics, Sanders won 82% of voters ages 18-29 in the Wisconsin primary. This number is substantial to Sanders’s win in Wisconsin, for this demographic made up 19% of the total voter turnout.

Dennis Riley, political science professor, has seen students enthusiastically supporting Sanders and thinks it stems from Sanders’s message.

“It’s the idea that we can unstack the deck,” Riley said. “We can make it more even-handed, and that we can make sure more people have more of what they need to live a comfortable life.”

Part of Sanders’s appeal to young people has been his advocating for debt-free and tuition-free American public colleges and universities.Photo courtesy of berniesanders.com

The Institute for College Access and Success states the average college student graduates with $28,950 in loans. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports the overall student debt in the United States amounts to a whopping $1.23 trillion.

Sanders wants to spread wealth more evenly, and he believes it can only be done by bringing people together.

“When we stand together and demand that this country works for all of us rather than the few, we will transform America, and that is what this campaign is about,” Sanders said at one of his rallies.

His message resonates clearly with Austyn Zarda, sophomore political science major. Zarda first heard about Sanders a month after he declared his run for the presidency, and has since canvassed and completed over 800 phone calls on behalf of the Sanders campaign.

Zarda believes Sanders is the best candidate for presidency, but is worried Sanders will be challenged by a lack of name recognition.

“If he had the same amount of name recognition as Hillary did at the start, he would be dominating right now,” Zarda said.

After the New York primary, Sanders stands at 1,151 pledged delegates compared to Clinton’s 1,428 pledged delegates.

However, even within the states that Clinton has won, Sanders has consistently won around 80% of voters between 19-24. A poll conducted by YouGov reports Sanders has received more votes from people under 30 than both Clinton and Donald Trump combined.

The last primary for the 2016 general election is the District of Columbia on June 14, which will follow with the Democratic National Convention from July 25-28.

Ta Xiong

Reporter

Txion355@uwsp.edu

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