Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has emerged as the top presidential choice of college students, followed by President Trump, who tops the remaining Democrat candidates, according to a College Reaction/Axios poll released Thursday.
The survey, taken December 2-4 among 1,026 college students, showed Sanders emerging as the top choice of college students, with 22.5 percent support – up seven points from the September 23–24, 2019, poll. President Trump followed, surpassing the remaining candidates in the Democrat 2020 field with 17.3 percent support.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) fell to third with 15.9 percent, indicating a 3.6 percent decline from September’s results. Joe Biden (D) followed with 12.3 percent. Both Andrew Yang (D) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) did not fall too far behind Biden, with 9.3 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively. The remaining candidates saw less than three percent support. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent.
“Warren’s recent decline among college students mirrors polling of the general population, but while Pete Buttigieg has been gaining among all voters during that time, Sanders is the one who’s gained the most among students,” Axios noted.
College Reaction reported that the results indicate that “the student vote is fluid, and will likely not take final shape until late.”
Other highlights, via College Reaction:
• While Warren and Sander’s have each taken massive dips and rises, Joe Biden has hung steady at ~13% since surrendering his head start in April.
• Trump, like Biden, has maintained rock-solid status, polling just below 20% since April. They both seem more change-resistant than candidates like Warren, Buttigieg and Sanders.
• Yang is still hovering around 10% – his supporters will be an important bloc to capture if he is not the nominee himself.
While the poll was conducted prior to Harris’s exit from the race, the 2.8 percent support she garnered among college students would likely have little impact on the general takeaways from the survey.