The scene: Joe Biden's youth plan needs a jolt. Before Bernie Sanders dropped out, Biden trailed Sanders by 35 points among college students. Now, Biden's team is racing to turn youth shrugs into pro-Joe warriors. His choice for Vice Presidential is a chance to nod to a slice of his coalition, and new polling suggests that students have a clear favorite.
The result: A plurality of college students report they support Elizabeth Warren for Vice President. Trailing closely behind is Kamala Harris, followed by Stacey Abrams and Gretchen Whitmer.
The story: Throughout primary season, students saw diversity in candidates' race, gender and sexual orientation, but always opted for white candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Progressive bonafides seem to outweigh personal traits like racial diversity. So, if you study students' presidential preferences over time, it makes sense that students prefer Elizabeth Warren's hard liberal tilt over other contenders like Kamala Harris, or Stacey Abrams.
But... The recent protests in response to police violence and even Amy Klobuchar threw the demand for VP of color into stark relief. The Biden team will likely have to choose between youth voters' first choice and a black running mate.
Here are the full results:
Here are the key results:
Axios/ College Reaction Poll
n=854 | June 17-18 | m.o.e ≈ 3.5
1. Who should Joe Biden choose as Vice President?
Total Among Democrats
Warren: 28% 33%
Harris: 19% 25%
Abrams: 13% 14%
Whitmer: 11% 11%
Klobuchar: 8% 6%
Rice: 7% 3%
Lance Bottoms: 6% 4%
Duckworth: 4% 2%
Lujan-Grisham: 2% 1%
Demings: 1% 1%