Well, I guess we’ve always known that, but more specifically, the results of the caucuses are fucked up.
While we wait, here are the results of the entrance polling.
Some observations
The age of voters:
Bernie’s popularity is inversely proportionate to age, and the difference is one of the most dramatic I have ever seen in demographic studies.
He is preferred by:
age 17-28: 48%
age 30-44: 33%
age 45-64: 11%
old geezers: 4%
Biden and Klobuchar’s support is exactly opposite to Bernie’s. The older the voters, the more they like those two.
Buttigieg and Warren show consistent support among all ages.
Education:
Bernie’s support resembles Trump’s in one way – he is overwhelmingly more popular with the less educated. He pulls 16% with college graduates, 30% with the non-degreed.
Issues:
- The people who care most about foreign policy prefer Biden by a landslide, and basically ignore Bernie and Warren.
- Those whose major concern is “who can beat Trump” surprisingly (to me) prefer Mayor Pete! Biden is a close second.
Buttigieg just isn’t the best person to be President. Bloomberg probably is.
Doesn’t surprise me that Mayor Pete is viewed as the one most likely to beat Trump. Demographics alone make that true. Trump is the oldest man ever to serve as President, by some margin. And the Democrats are now seriously considering sending 3 candidates against him who are even older than Trump?! (Sanders, Bloomberg, and Biden). In what universe is that a good idea?
Instead, make it a battle between the youngest man ever to serves as President, if he wins, versus the oldest. That’s a great storyline. People respond to stuff like this; more than policy arguments. And sorry if my focus on age seems ageist, but being in my 70’s myself I feel entitled.