Describe a Millennial Bernie 2016-Biden 2020 voter

[sg0508]

Someone who grew up and realized that they need to make a living for themselves, taking professional and financial responsibilities for their lives.

[slothdem]

Plenty of progressive, dual-degree women who preferred Bernie over Clinton in 2016 because of policy, but soured on him in the wake of the 2016 primary/election. All were Warren supporters who didn't go down with the ship.

[Mr. Illini]

Yeah I don't really understand why this is being viewed as a rare type of voter. Milllennials are four years older than they were during the last primary. Many have graduated college, moved into the work world, etc. It isn't unthinkable that they'd be less idealistic and more pragmatic voting now than they were four years ago.

Of course, the zoomers stepped in to carry the torch for Bernie this time.

[Gracile]

Yeah I don't really understand why this is being viewed as a rare type of voter. Milllennials are four years older than they were during the last primary. Many have graduated college, moved into the work world, etc. It isn't unthinkable that they'd be less idealistic and more pragmatic voting now than they were four years ago.

Of course, the zoomers stepped in to carry the torch for Bernie this time.

Most Millennials were past college age in 2016; the college students who voted for him back then were largely at the tail end of the generation.

[Adam Griffin]

This group actually isn't as common as some are suggesting. There's just greater difficulty in identifying them via exit polling now (not to mention multiple "electoral events" that have completely upended this year's primary, making apples-to-apples comparisons nearly impossible).

The median Millennial was born circa 1993 and is around 27 years old in 2020; in actuality, they haven't shifted that much in terms of how they're measured in exit polling (i.e. half or more are still in the 18-29 category), but yes: a meaningful chunk have exited the 18-29 group. Those hardest hit by the Great Recession/most influenced by GWB are 30-33 now - which means they were in the 18-29 group 4 years ago and are now on the cusp of the 30-44 demographic (where their preferences are still being swamped by higher turnout non-Millennials in their early 40s).

At any rate, it's hard to compare preferences at this point. Looking at the early contests (pre-COVID and pre-consolidation) is a better indicator of actual preference. Social distancing along with the reality that the primary basically wrapped up on March 3 were huge impacts on how young people voted (or didn't vote). Controlling for the much larger number of candidates in this year's field than in 2016, it's hard to say that Millennials were any less "pro-Bernie" (or perhaps a better metric is "anti-establishment") this year. Biden did no better in the earlier contests (and in some states, worse) than Clinton among the youngest segments even in nominal terms, let alone adjusted for more choices on the ballot in '20.

This particular group of defectors would be disproportionately male and disproportionately well-off. Gender gaps were smaller this year, while income and age gaps were larger.

(Also, it's pretty pathetic some are using the "grow up" commentary as if that's ever been demonstrable in any capacity; just like people don't "become more conservative as they age [and have families/'real jobs'] in general elections, they don't embody this behavior in primaries, either)

[Smash255]

Someone who voted during the 2016 Primary season when the Primary wasn't completely over and is voting in the 2020 Primary when it is?

I would fit into that camp.  I voted for Bernie in 2016, and since the Primary is over and everyone basically dropped out, will be likely voting for Biden in the Primary next month.  I did support Pete before he dropped out.