Union Students Vote for Candidate Who Agrees with Them
Posted Mar 12, 2020
Union students primarily vote for the candidates who agree with them on the issues as 52% list that as the most important reason for their vote. Bringing about change is a distant second (19%) with most electable (13%) and uniting the country (9%) in third and fourth place.
For Trump supporters, 54% agree with him on the issues while the ability to bring about change is second (21%) followed by most electable (17%). His ability to unite the country is last (4%). Among Democrats, it seems that most students voted their heart over their head preferring policy over electability. 39% support their preferred candidate because they agree with them on the issues while 23% support their candidate because they can bring about change. About a third of Union community members chose someone to unite the country (18%) or who is most electable (12%).
While our N is small which lowers our confidence in our results, we did break down the reasons for supporting one's preferred candidates among the Democrats. Union students chose Elizabeth Warren (29%) and Pete Buttigieg (25%) as the candidates they chose because they agree with on the issues. Thus, it seems that our most policy oriented Democratic community members are split between progressives and pragmatic liberals.
Students who supported Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard (36% each) thought they were most able to unite the country, if elected. As a pragmatic liberal, some may have thought Buttigieg could unite the country while Gabbard is someone who appears often on Fox News and says some positive things about Trump, especially on foreign policy, which may lead some to think she could unify the country.
Those who were most interested in bringing about change supported Bernie Sanders (37%) with Mike Bloomberg (21%), Joe Biden (14%), Buttigieg (14%), and Warren (14%) bunched together behind him. As someone running to start a revolution, Sanders commitment to bringing about large scale change would obviously appeal to those who think the nation needs to move in a different direction.
Some students chose Biden, Buttigieg, and Warren (29% each) as the most electable. As pragmatic liberals, we can see that how students thought Biden and Buttigieg were most electable. Warren, as a progressive, is a bit surprising. However, Warren has greater appeal among more educated voters and these voters might have seen her eviscerate Bloomberg in the debate and thought that she could do the same to Trump.