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Fact Check: Did Sanders win more young voters in 2016 than Clinton and Trump combined?

Posted at 10:35 PM, Feb 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-26 22:35:14-05

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont appeared at a CNN presidential town hall Monday night. During the event, he claimed that he was more appealing to young voters and young people of color in 2016 than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

“We ended up winning among younger people,” Sanders said. “More votes from young African Americans, Latinos, Asian American, Native Americans than Clinton and Trump combined.”

Facts First: During the primaries, Sanders won more votes from the under-30 crowd than Trump and Clinton combined. But the picture is unclear when it comes to each minority group.

Based on estimates from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), a research group at Tufts University, which reviewed vote tallies and exit/entrance polls, Sanders garnered more than 2 million votes from 18- to 29-year-olds while Trump and Clinton received a combined 1.6 million votes.

CNN could not find data breaking down the voting tally by every young minority group Sanders listed.

Based on CNN exit polls from 27 states during the 2016 primaries, Sanders won a slim majority of African American votes among those under 30 and a wider majority among Hispanics in the same age group. 52% of black women in this category voted for Sanders while 47% voted for Clinton. Among black men under 30, 50% voted for Sanders and 48% for Clinton.

Among Hispanic voters, the range is much wider. Thirty-one percent of Hispanic men under 30 voted for Clinton while 69% voted for Sanders. For the women in this category the numbers are similar, 32% for Clinton and 68% for Sanders.

The Sanders campaign did not respond to a request for comment.