Interpreted by Young Progressives as 'Abject Contempt,' Buttigieg Says He Was Also 'Big Fan of Bernie Sanders' at 18

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Thursday attempted to deflect a journalist’s critique about his lack of support among younger voters by suggesting enthusiasm for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign stemmed from youthful naivete.

“You would be the youngest president in history, and yet you don’t have a majority of young voters in this country according to polls,” said “CBS This Morning” anchor Tony Dokoupil to the 37-year-old Democratic hopeful. “Is there a way in which you’re out of touch with your own generation?”

“It’s certainly the case that many of the younger voters are attracted to, for example the Sanders campaign definitely has more young voters. I was a big fan of Bernie Sanders when I was 18 years old,” Buttigieg replied before adding moments later that unlike Sanders, he has not proposed eliminating student debt.

Dokoupil’s question followed a number of recent polls showing Buttigieg’s low-single-digit support among voters under the age of 45—a large chunk of the electorate.

“You’re at 3% and 4% among people under the age of 44 in South Carolina, it’s almost as bad as minority voters,” Dokoupil said, referring to Buttigieg’s recent polling about black Americans, 2% of whom supported him in a recent Quinnipiac survey and 4% of whom favored him according to an Economist/YouGov poll last week.

As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, Buttigieg also garnered just 6% of the support of Californians under age 45 according to a CNN poll—a day after Quinnipiac released another survey showing him with 2% support among people under 35, nationwide.

In those same polls, Sanders had the support of 32% and 52% of the youngest age brackets, respectively.

Buttigieg’s dismissal of the opinions of Americans ranging in age from 18 to 45 was evidence of “his abject contempt for young people,” according to Jacobin journalist Luke Savage.