Who Feels the Bern? An Analysis of Support for Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic Primary

Abstract

Researchers remain divided over the cause of Bernie Sanders’ strong appeal in recent Democratic primaries, alternately positing identity or ideology as decisive drivers of Sanders support. Using data from 2020 Nationscape, we conduct linear probability models that show how identity, ideology, and their interaction all explain Sanders support. Demographically, we find that Sanders voters are disproportionately young, Hispanic, and Independent. Sanders voters also differ significantly from other Democratic primary voters across several ideology variables, and are especially supportive of policies that were central to Sanders’ campaign, such as providing government-run health insurance to all Americans. Finally, we demonstrate that age cohort, the most important predictor of Sanders support, has an effect that is highly dependent upon key ideology variables. Overall, those who did not vote for Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primary are quite demographically and ideologically distinct from those voters that “felt the Bern.”