Gloria Steinem told Bill Maher that young women are supporting Bernie Sanders because “that’s where the boys are.” She later apologized for having “misspoke,” and clarified: “Whether they gravitate to Bernie or Hillary, young women are activist and feminist in greater numbers than ever before.”
Then there’s Madeleine Albright. She criticized young women’s allegiance to Bernie by saying: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”
No matter how misguided Steinem and Albright’s statements may seem, they hit on an assumption that Clinton would easily sail towards the nomination (instead of losing in New Hampshire, which she did), and that she would easily carry the female vote in doing so. That’s not the case, though. At least among millennial women, according to this USA Today poll. Sanders leads Clinton in support, 50 to 31 percent, among women aged 18 to 34.
Instead of relying on Steinem or Albright to explain why this is so, I asked a bunch of young women who are actually in this age range to explain why Bernie Sanders has their vote.
Reason #1: Sanders’ Policies Resonate With Them On A Personal Level
Sara Johnson, 19, Michigan
“I’m particularly fond of his ‘Medicare for all‘ plan. As a chronically ill person with a chronically ill mother and a father on Social Security disability, who has had health insurance only sporadically throughout my life, I agree with Bernie that healthcare is a right, not a privilege.”
Rachael Nash, 18, Iowa, Des Moines Precinct 5 Captain for Bernie Sanders’ campaign
“I’m a college student, and I really, really need free college, otherwise I’m going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. … I also have a sister — she’s also in college, and we have a lot going on with our lives that we don’t have enough money to put us through college … My mom makes so much money a year that we don’t get any financial aid. FAFSA has offered me loans and no aid at all, really.”
And So Does His Idealism
Lucia Flores, 27, Atlanta
“I like universal healthcare, free tuition, and progressive taxation. I understand where the critics saying that his positions are too pie-in-the-sky, but, honestly, his stance represents for me the only way the country can get itself out of the political impasse it’s found itself in. If he’s able to articulate his platform in a way that signals to working-class people on the GOP side of the fence that he’s working in their best interest (which he is, ultimately), we might all be able to see real change.”
Piyali Kundu-Veldhoven, 28, from New York City
“I would rather live in a country where most people are doing alright than one in which a few are doing well and the rest are languishing. That is the foundation of social-democratic governance, and that is the world I want to live in. Bernie Sanders speaks to that, rather simple and morally justified, ideal.”
They Trust Sanders
Piyali Kundu-Veldhoven
“He is the only candidate that I would describe as a public servant, as opposed to a ‘career politician.'”
Shaina Weissman, 27, New York City
“I trust that Bernie actually believes what he says. I fear that Hillary speaks based on public polling results, which means her policies will veer further right if/when she reaches the general election.”
Rachael Nash
“To be 100 percent honest, I would probably be voting for Hillary if her record wasn’t so sketchy, because she’s just been changing her views a lot. But Bernie—I don’t know, something just clicks with him, where he just seems to care about changing the world, not just having the presidency.”
Lucia Flores
“I’m still critical of some of his stated positions, like his stance on reparations. But his response to Black Lives Matter was probably the turning point for me — he demonstrated a willingness to really consider criticisms of his platform and adjust his positions accordingly, which ultimately makes me hopeful that he might come around on something like reparations.”
Reason #2: They Want A Woman President, But They See Themselves In Sanders
Megan Adkins, 29, North Carolina
“Even if I was on the fence about the candidates, I would have been sold on Bernie after Hillary had the gall to have Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem lecture younger female voters on not voting for her. That was pretty sexist in its own right! I want a female president, I just don’t think Hillary is the lady we, young progressive Gen Y/millennials, are looking for.”
Sara Johnson
“I think the idea we should be voting for Hillary, as women, comes from the feminist value of supporting other women at all opportunities. I agree with that, and I’m a feminist, but I don’t think it’s feminist to vote for Hillary just because she’s a woman, if I don’t agree with her policies more than the other candidates. The right thing to do is elect the President who will do the most to make the United States better for its people, and I think that’s Bernie Sanders.”
Carrie Poppy, 32, Los Angeles
“I think [Gloria Steinem’s comment] says more about how dark and dismal the outlook for women in American politics is — that we give women so few opportunities, that when people don’t support women, we have to seriously ask the question of whether sexism is involved. It’s a good question, and one we should always ask.
“I don’t mind being encouraged to vote for Hillary in part because she carries a perspective which all previous 44 presidents didn’t have — that of a woman. But it’s only one facet of her; she’s a brilliant person, and I will be happy if she’s president. I will just be less happy than I will if Bernie wins, because even as a 32-year-old woman, I share Bernie’s perspective more. I see myself in him, more than I do in her.”