Before the results of yesterday’s primary, a lot of news coverage focused on the gaps in Bernie Sanders’s support. He captured Iowa on the backs of young voters but didn’t perform as well with older voters or voters who weren’t white.
Sanders won all demographic groups that were supposed to be easy wins for Clinton
But last night, according to New York Times exit polls, Sanders swept nearly every demographic on the way to his 22-point rout over Hillary Clinton.
In New Hampshire, Sanders won 83 percent of young voters ages 18 to 29, a virtually identical showing to his support among young voters in Iowa. Perhaps even more significantly, Sanders won 55 percent of women, to Clinton’s 45 percent. But he also won the next two age brackets, finishing 8 points ahead of Clinton among voters ages 45 to 64. This age range is Clinton’s sweet spot, and losing it really bruises her mantle of popularity. Clinton did win among one generation, though – voters ages 65 and up swung 11 points in her favor.
Sanders scored strongly among men (66 percent), an unremarkable outcome given repeated polls showing men warming to him more than to Clinton. But he also won women handily, 55 percent to Clinton’s 45, taking the demographic that formed the core pitch of Clinton’s campaign.
And, perhaps most remarkably for Sanders, he swept the ideological spectrum, winning over voters who called themselves “very liberal” as well as “moderate.” He won the latter category by 21 points, despite pitching his campaign as one that would not bend to the forces of moderation.
The fact that Sanders won nearly every demographic so handily lends credence to his idea that by riling up the populace with an economics-focused call to arms, he can turn out droves of voters who will help turn his radical ideas into reality. To his credit, Democratic turnout in New Hampshire was projected to top the previous record, set in 2008.
“Let us never forget, Democrats and progressives win when voter turnout is high,” Sanders said in his victory speech.“ Republicans win when people are demoralized and voter turnout is low.”
Clinton did win among one demographic: people with incomes above $200,000. Those people, who made up 8 percent of voters, voted 53 percent in her favor to Sanders’s 46 percent. But given the themes of the night, this is probably not a victory that Clinton is eager to advertise.
