The political pundits love to argue about who is supporting each of the Democratic candidates. For instance, they will tell you that young people support Bernie Sanders -- even though many young people supported other candidates in the New Hampshire primary.The respected Pew Research Center tried to find out the answer to that, and they did it a little more scientifically. They questioned 7,013 Democrats and Democratically-leaning Independents between January6th and 19th. Their findings have a margin of error of 1.8 points.
Here is what they found about the supporters of five leading Democratic candidates:
Joe Biden supporters
- The former vice president draws comparatively high support from black adults and older Democratic voters. Nearly three-in-ten Biden supporters are black (28%), compared with smaller shares among those who back Michael Bloomberg (18%), Bernie Sanders (13%), Elizabeth Warren (12%) and Pete Buttigieg (1%). Biden’s supporters also include a larger share of voters ages 65 and older, compared with the backers of most of the other candidates.
- Most Biden supporters prioritize finding common ground with Republicans, even if it means giving up some things that Democrats want. Around seven-in-ten of his backers (72%) favor this approach over pushing hard for policies that Democrats want. Those who back Warren (53%) and Sanders (45%) are far less likely to take this view, though Bloomberg and Buttigieg supporters more closely resemble Biden’s in this respect.
- Biden supporters are more likely than backers of most other candidates to say illegal immigration is a very or moderately big problem in the country. Around six-in-ten Biden supporters (59%) take this view, compared with smaller shares of those who support Buttigieg (41%), Sanders (36%) and Warren (36%). Bloomberg supporters are about as likely as Biden backers to hold this view (61%).
Bernie Sanders supporters
- Around a third of Sanders supporters (32%) are under the age of 30, a higher share than among supporters of Warren (18%), Buttigieg (8%), Bloomberg (7%) and Biden (6%).
- About half of Sanders supporters (54%) prioritize pushing hard for policies that Democrats want over finding common ground with Republicans. Among all Democratic voters, just 35% favor this approach.
- A slim majority (55%) of Sanders supporters say billionaires are a bad thing for the country, a view also held by 49% of Warren supporters. Buttigieg, Biden and Bloomberg supporters are much less likely to take this position.
Elizabeth Warren supporters
- Warren supporters are by and large well educated and politically liberal. When it comes to ideology, liberals make up a larger share of Warren’s supporters (74%) than any other Democratic candidate’s supporters, including those who back Sanders (61%).
- Among Warren supporters, 53% prefer that a candidate find common ground with the GOP, while 46% prefer someone who will push hard for Democratic policies. The share who want a candidate to push hard for Democratic priorities is slightly lower than the share of Sanders supporters who say this (54%), but is significantly higher than the shares of Biden, Buttigieg and Bloomberg supporters who take this view.
- Eight-in-ten Warren backers (80%) see economic inequality as a very big problem in the country today, similar to the share of Sanders supporters who say this (77%), and higher than the share of Biden (66%) and Buttigieg (65%) supporters with this view.
Pete Buttigieg supporters
- The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, counts a high share of college graduates among his supporters. Around six-in-ten Buttigieg backers (61%) have a four-year college degree or more education – equal to the share among Warren supporters (61%), but higher than the share among supporters of Bloomberg (45%), Biden (37%) and Sanders (36%).
- Even more than Biden supporters, backers of Buttigieg prioritize finding common ground with Republicans even if it means giving up some things that Democrats want. Around eight-in-ten Buttigieg backers (82%) favor this approach over pushing hard for policies that Democrats want, even if it makes it much harder to get some things done. (Among Biden supporters, 72% say this.)
- While around three-quarters of Warren (76%) and Sanders (74%) supporters say the government should provide more assistance to people in need, Buttigieg supporters are divided on this question: 48% say the government should provide more assistance, while 45% say it is providing about the right amount of assistance.
Michael Bloomberg supporters
- Bloomberg supporters are decidedly less liberal than the backers of most other Democratic candidates. Just 29% of Bloomberg supporters describe themselves as liberal; a majority identify as moderate or conservative.
- Like Buttigieg and Biden supporters, a clear majority of Bloomberg backers (79%) want a candidate who will prioritize finding common ground with Republicans, even if it means giving up some things Democrats want.
- Most Bloomberg supporters (69%) say the fact that some people in the U.S. have personal fortunes of a billion dollars or more is neither a good nor a bad thing for the country; just 16% call it a bad thing. Sanders and Warren supporters are far more likely to say billionaires are a bad thing for the country (55% and 49%, respectively, say this).
