The Barefoot Times recently polled 48 high school students at Sequoyah about 2020 presidential candidates and the issues they care about. Of those who responded, which constitute just over 33% of the student body, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders leads among Sequoyah students with 39.5%, while Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (16.3%) takes second place and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (11.6%) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang (11.6%) tie for third.
Poll respondents reported that the issues they care most about in the 2020 election are climate change (80.3%), immigration (56.3%), and guns (37.5%).
Of students who are of the age eligible to be pre-registered or registered to vote, 43.5% were not registered to vote in any way.
Almost two-thirds (64.6%) of respondents align most with the Democratic party, but 22.9% of students do not have a party preference and 10.4% identify with the Republican party.
Senator Sanders gets the support of 38.1% of both the cis male and cis female students. However, Senator Warren is in second place (33.3%) among cis female students, while Yang (19%) and Mayor Buttigieg (19%) are tied for second among cis male students.
Among Democrats, Senator Sanders is again in first (39.3%), with Senator Warren in second (25.0%). The one student who identifies with the Peace and Freedom Party supports Bernie Sanders. 60.0% of polled Republicans support current President Donald Trump, while Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are tied in second with 20.0% each. Independent students support both Senator Sanders and Yang equally (44.4% each), with Joe Biden in second (11.1%).
While Senator Sanders does well with white (33.3%), Hispanic or Latinx (62.5%), and Native American or American Indian (100%) students, Senator Warren does well with black or African American students (50.0%). President Trump and Yang are tied in first with Asian/Pacific Islander students.
Among freshmen, Elizabeth Warren is the frontrunner, with Pete Buttigieg in close second. Bernie Sanders leads (37.5%) among sophomores, with former Vice President Joe Biden in second (25.0%). 50.0% of 11th graders support Bernie Sanders, with Elizabeth Warren in second with 25.0% of the vote. A majority of seniors (61.5%) support Bernie Sanders, with Andrew Yang in a distant second (15.4%).
An overwhelming majority of Sanders’ supporters support Warren as their second choice candidate. Among Warren’s supporters, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders lead as second choices.
If the election were held between national frontrunners Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren, respondents would overwhelming support whoever the Democratic nominee may be. Sanders, however, would beat Donald Trump by 4.2% more than Warren.
While a majority of respondents view Senator Sanders favorably, and exactly half of students view Warren favorably, only 22.9% of students view Vice President Biden favorably. Respondents view President Trump unfavorably, with only 4.2% of students having a favorable view of him.
The raw data from The Barefoot Times’ October poll is available here.
The Barefoot Times will be polling Sequoyah students every month until at least the California Democratic primary in March 2020.
