by ANTHONY CAPOTE & STEPHEN ZUBRYCKY, Editors
The Quadrangle distributed an online poll to students and employees of Manhattan College between Feb. 22 through Feb. 26, with 627 respondents, 477 of whom were students.
In the poll, 45 percent of students said they would prefer Bernie Sanders, the Senator from Vermont as the next president. Sanders held a commanding lead over the runner-up, real estate mogul Donald J. Trump, who had 19 percent of the student vote.
Amongst the 150 employees that responded, however, former New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton narrowly defeated Sanders by five points with 39 percent. The poll was sent to all people on campus who have a Jaspernet sign-on and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Student Results
Of the 477 students who responded to the poll, a 216 said they support Bernie Sanders – putting Sanders only 23 votes shy of majority support among Manhattan College students.
Sanders is followed by Trump in second, who leads his four remaining Republican opponents, with 19 percent. Farther down the order, Clinton and Rubio tie for third with 12 percent apiece, Governor John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas tie for fifth with 5 percent each.
Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination last week, received the support of only six students.
One of the starkest divides on campus was between the schools. Members of the Schools of Business and Engineering are less likely to support Sanders and more likely to support Trump – even though Sanders still wins.
School of Engineering members prefer Sanders to Trump by just ten points, 37 percent to 27 percent. It is in even closer in the School of Business, where Sanders’ lead is slashed to 33 to 27 percent.
In the other three schools, Sanders receives the backing of 51 percent or more, with Trump and Clinton in a close race for second in the low teens.
On-campus voter registration is strong, with 83 percent of respondents registered to vote.
Employee Results
The results are indicative of the outcome of the presidential primaries thus far, college students showed overwhelming support for Sanders, while older voters showed a slight preference of Clinton instead. Trump faired best amongst the Republicans in both categories, earning 21 votes (14 percent) from the employees.
Of the employees, 93 percent said that they vote, or plan on voting, and 54 percent identified as Democrats.
Among Republicans, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida came in second with 8 percent of the total employee vote and Kasich came in third. Cruz and Carson both had 1 percent of the vote.
Even though Hillary Clinton leads amongst employees, she trails Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump amongst students. Stephen Zubrycky/The Quadrangle.
Democrats back Sanders 2-to-1 over Clinton.
Among self-identified Democrats, Sanders received 167 votes to Clinton’s 83.
The on-campus results mirrors one of the biggest themes in this Democratic primary across the country: the age gap between Sanders and Clinton. Younger voters tend to favor Sanders, while older voters prefer Clinton. In several primaries and caucuses thus far, Sanders has performed strongly in college and university towns.
Despite Clinton’s 30 percentage point victory in last week’s primary in Virginia, Sanders managed to beat Clinton in the city of Charlottesville, which is home to the University of Virginia, by 7 percentage points.
Sanders has polled strongly among young people – beating Clinton 77 to 23 percent among registered Democrats ages 18 to 24, even though he lost to Clinton by two percentage points overall in that poll, which was conducted by Investor’s Business Daily.
Two hundred sixty-two Democrats responded to the Quadrangle’s poll, comprising 43 percent of respondents.
Among Republicans, Trump holds a huge lead.
Businessman Donald Trump of New York leads his opponents for the Republican nomination, the Quadrangle poll found.
Trump received the backing of 49 percent of self-identified Republicans, compared to Marco Rubio, who finished second with 28 percent. Ted Cruz and John Kasich were in a close race for third, receiving 11 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Carson, who suspended his campaign last week, received just one percent.
Trump’s support on campus corresponds to his strength in primaries across the Northeast thus far. As of Friday, three states in the northeast have held Republican primaries – New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and Trump has won all three.
Trump also performs strongly in the Northeast in pre-election polls. A January Siena College poll found that Trump led the his home state’s Republican primary (scheduled for April 19) by 18 percentage points.
Additionally, Trump has been collecting endorsements from high-profile Republican figures from the Northeast, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Maine Governor Paul LePage.
Just 145 respondents identified as Republicans, making up slightly less than a quarter of the total.