1 In 4 Millennials Prefer Meteor Strike To Clinton Or Trump, Poll Finds
BOSTON (CBS) – A new poll finds that nearly 1 in 4 millennials would prefer a meteor strike rather than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump being elected president.
The latest UMass-Lowell/Odyssey Millennials poll, released Tuesday, asked voters to choose between Clinton as president, Trump in the White House, a lottery to choose the president from all U.S. citizens, Barack Obama appointing himself to a life term in office or a giant meteor striking Earth and extinguishing all human life.
Read: Complete Poll Results
The poll, taken from October 10-13, surveyed 1,247 Americans ages 18 through 35, including 966 registered voters and 680 likely voters.
Of those who did not want Clinton or Trump as president, 39 percent said they preferred Obama serve a life term, 26 percent opted for a random lottery, and 23 percent selected a giant meteor strike.
"We do not take our respondents at their word that they are earnestly interested in seeing the world end, but we do take their willingness to rank two constitutional crises and a giant meteor ahead of these two candidates with startling frequency as a sign of displeasure and disaffection with the candidates and the 2016 election," said Prof. Joshua Dyck, co-director of UMass Lowell's Center for Public Opinion.
When it came down to a head-to-head race, millennials polled opted for Clinton over Trump by a 66 percent to 22 percent margin, with 12 percent of people undecided.
Of those surveyed, only 25 percent of millennials have a favorable view of Trump, compared to 56 percent favorable for Clinton.