Poll: Sanders has broad support in diverse California communities
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders has widespread support among communities of color in California, outstripping his nearest Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden and former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, according to a new statewide poll.
The survey offers an unusual level of detail on the views of Latino, African Americans and Asian and Pacific Americans in California, groups that in many opinion surveys are too small to analyze. It provides strong evidence of the Vermont senator’s ability to build a multiracial, multiethnic coalition in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders dominated Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, largely on the strength of his support among Latinos, and he’s hoping to upend Biden’s campaign in South Carolina this Saturday by winning over African Americans.
In California, Sanders has significant support among both those groups, the poll indicates.
But all racial and ethnic groups in the survey showed a sharp division by age. That reflects other surveys around the country that show Sanders, 78, with overwhelming support among younger Americans, but much lower levels with people his own age.
Among Latinos younger than 50, for example, Sanders enjoyed roughly a 3-1 lead over Bloomberg when poll respondents were asked whom they would most like to see as the next president. Latinos 50 and older were divided closely between Sanders, Biden and Bloomberg. Similar age divisions showed up among blacks, Asian Americans and whites in the poll.
“This isn’t just a generation gap: It’s a generational revolution,” said Dan Schnur, the longtime political consultant who helped organize the new survey. “Young people of every race and ethnicity are rejecting the political system of their parents and grandparents.”
“There’s a remarkable consistency by age” across racial lines, said Drew Lieberman, the pollster with Strategies 360, a Seattle-based polling and research firm, who oversaw the survey. Notably, younger people in the poll were less likely than those in their 50s and 60s to say they were undecided, the reverse of the typical pattern, Lieberman noted.
Age also stands out as a far more significant point of division than ideology, for example, as Sanders leads among Californians who call themselves moderates, as well as liberals.
The poll — sponsored by the Los Angeles Urban League; HOPE, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality; and CAUSE, the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment — is not a likely voter sample and doesn’t aim to forecast the results of California’s March 3 primary. Instead, the numbers reflect a broader look at attitudes among both voters and nonvoters in the diverse ethnic and racial groups of the nation’s largest state.
Asked to pick among the leading Democrats and President Trump and say who they would most like to see as the next president, a third of Latino adults, one quarter of African Americans and just over 1 in 5 Asian Americans chose the Vermont senator.