New Survey Finds That 85 Percent of Bernie Sanders Supporters Now Plan to Vote for Hillary Clinton

A Bernie Sanders lawn sign altered to support Hillary Clinton. (Flickr / CC 2.0)

When Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Tuesday, a seemingly vast group of Sanders supporters took to social media to express their negative feelings about Clinton. But, despite this wave of rejection by the “Bernie or Bust” movement, a survey finds that a whopping 85 percent of Sanders supporters are now planning to vote for Clinton.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center and released last week (prior to Sanders’ endorsement), found:

Support for Clinton is slightly higher among Democrats and Democratic leaners who backed Sanders in the primary contests: 85% say they plan to vote for Clinton in the general election, compared with 9% who say they will vote for Trump and 6% who volunteer that they will vote for another candidate or don’t know.

The survey also found that young voters, while “highly engaged,” are particularly unhappy with the choices for president. It also confirmed the ample evidence of discord within the Republican Party: 54 percent of Republicans polled said that “disagreements in the party will keep many Republicans from supporting” Donald Trump. In addition, the survey found that 44 percent of voters believe that Trump would “change things for the worse.”

The complete report includes very little mention of third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.

Mona Chalabi of The Guardian has pointed out potential flaws in the study, writing: “The fact that individuals were asked to state their preferences to a stranger over the phone might have meant that some were reluctant to disclose their intentions openly (in particular, former Sanders [supporters] who plan on switching to Trump).”

Since the survey was conducted before Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton, we don’t know whether the findings would alter the picture. However, the results will probably bolster the hopes of Democratic leaders that Sanders’ supporters will join in the fight against Donald Trump.

—Posted by Emma Niles