- The Iowa Caucus is less than a week away, and we polled Iowa college students on their preferred Democratic candidates. Among Democratic Iowa students, Bernie Sanders leads with 35 percent, followed by Elizabeth Warren with 29 percent, and Pete Buttigieg with 19 percent.
- The Iowa results are in contrast to our national college student sample, where Sanders leads with 43 percent, followed by Warren with 22 percent, Andrew Yang with 12 percent, Joe Biden with 8 percent, and Pete Buttigieg with 7 percent.
- The discrepancy may be due to Iowa’s majority white population. Nationally among white college students, the results more closely match the candidates’ standing among Iowa students. Among white college students, Bernie Sanders (39 percent) is the most popular, followed by Elizabeth Warren (25 percent), with Pete Buttigieg (11 percent) and Andrew Yang (11 percent) tied for third.
On a weekly basis, Chegg–in partnership with College Pulse–is surveying over 1,500 college students across the United States on the 2020 presidential election. Every Thursday, we update this page with the latest survey data, offering an in-depth guide to how the race for the Democratic nomination is shaping up among college students.
To receive an early look at this report, and other key college student opinion data, sign up here. You can also receive updates by following @Chegg and @CollegeInsights on Twitter.
Tracking the Field Over Time
The results are based on Democratic and Democratic-leaning undergraduates nationwide. Hover over or click each line to track how support for candidates has changed week to week. Click the dot next to a candidates name to remove their data from the infographic.
Regardless of who you may support in the upcoming 2020 presidential election, who would you most like to be the Democratic nominee for President?
Who’s Leading in the Democratic Primary
To breakdown candidate support, select a demographic below.
Regardless of who you may support in the upcoming 2020 presidential election, who would you most like to be the Democratic nominee for President? –– Candidates with ≤1% student support are not shown.
Trump vs Generic Democrat
All students were asked if they would vote for the Democratic candidate, President Donald Trump or not vote at all.
If the 2020 election for President were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate, would you vote for Donald Trump or would you not vote?
Methodology
About Chegg/College Pulse Election Tracker: On a weekly basis, the Chegg/College Pulse Student Election Tracker surveys over 1,500 full-time and part-time students attending two and four-year colleges or universities across the United States who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel™, which includes 250,000 undergraduate college student respondents from more than 800 two and four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states. Every data point uses a weighted rolling average of the surveys from the previous three weeks’ surveys.
Each week, we will release a report with the most important findings from the tracker and other student insights. Sign-up to receive that report in your inbox here.
For media inquiries or to learn more about College Pulse, please contact [email protected]
Change-log
– April 23, 2019. Added the following candidates as Democratic candidate options: “Gov. Jay Inslee”, “Rep. John Delaney”, “Former Gov. John Hickenlooper”, “Mayor Pete Buttigieg”, “Gov. Steve Bullock”, “Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe”, “Rep. Tim Ryan”, “Andrew Yang”
– July 2, 2019. Added the following candidates as Democratic candidate options: “Marianne Williamson”, “Mayor Bill de Blasio”, “Sen. Michael Bennet”, “Rep. Eric Swalwell”
– July 16, 2019. Set up a geographic filter to limit responses to US-based respondents
– August 13, 2019: Removed ex-candidates Terry McAuliffe and Eric Swallwell from tracker
– October 15, 2019: Removed ex-candidate Bill de Blasio
– October 29, 2019: Removed ex-candidate Tim Ryan
– November 5, 2019: Removed ex-candidate Beto O’Rourke
– November 12, 2019: Added candidate Michael Bloomberg
– November 19, 2019: Added candidate Deval Patrick
– December 3, 2019: Removed ex-candidate Steve Bullock
– December 10, 2019: Removed ex-candidate Kamala Harris
– January 9, 2020: Removed ex-candidate Julian Castro
– January 14, 2020: Removed ex-candidates Cory Booker and Marianne Williamson
