A new Morning Consult poll has Sen. Bernie Sanders rated second only to former VP Joe Biden both among likely Democratic voters as a whole and African American Democratic voters in particular.
Interestingly, the poll indicates that Sanders’ support among AA voters is greater than his support among white voters.
According to an article from The Intercept:
Despite a persistent notion that his supporters are disproportionately white male “bros,” the new survey suggests that Sanders is actually slightly more popular among black Democratic voters than white ones, indicating that the narrative that developed during the 2016 campaign may no longer hold, if it ever did.
The article goes on to suggest that Sanders support turns on Class distinctions.
There appears to be a strong class element at play in the finding. The same poll found that the demographics Sanders is least popular with — at 19 and 17 percent, respectively — are Democrats who make more than $100,000 per year and Democrats who have post-graduate degrees (two qualities that typically, if not always, overlap). Because of structural wealth and income gaps, that population is heavily white.
Sanders, meanwhile, receives his strongest support support from those making less than $50,000 — a group that is, for the same reasons, much more diverse. The poll found that 30 percent of those with the lowest incomes backed Sanders.
Elsewhere, the numbers for Sanders and Sen. Kamala Harris among AA Democratic voters are indicated as 28% and 14% respectively.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., meanwhile, has half as much support, at 14 percent, among black voters as Sanders, according to supplementary polling data provided to The Intercept by Morning Consult. The findings are drawn from a sample of 2,587 black, likely Democratic primary voters.
It’s way too early yet and this is just one poll but it’s worth taking note of.
Read and discuss.
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2019 · 11:57:09 PM +00:00 · WB Reeves
A little up update. A few commenters seem to think that there is something nefarious about the title of the diary. Just to be clear, it’s a paraphrase of the title of The Intercept article which is cited in the diary.
Now I suppose I could have quoted the title verbatim: “Bernie Sanders Is Beating Kamala Harris 2-1 Among Black Democratic Primary Voters, New Poll Finds”
Somehow, I don’t think they would have liked that any better.