Not long ago, Shailene Woodley, who, as the star of the “Divergent” films is a kind of living symbol of the millennial force field, was making her way around Columbia University, canvassing on behalf of Bernie Sanders. Campaigning for the Vermont senator’s presidential bid at a Northeastern university — or any university, for that matter — seems a little like walking into Peter Luger to persuade people to have the steak. Regardless of the advantages that accrue to Ivy League students, and whatever privileges might have landed them there in the first place, Columbia falls within the vast psychographic jurisdiction of Mr. Sanders, enemy of the indulged and fussed-over.

On the day that Ms. Woodley, who is 25, alighted on upper Broadway, she stopped a freshman named Jessica Grubesic and asked her if she wanted to participate in a phone bank. Ms. Grubesic came to Columbia from Albuquerque, where she attended private school and where her mother and father are lawyers. “My parents brought me to Naral rallies when I was, like, in first grade,” she told me, referring to the abortion rights organization. In some sense her political affinities were preordained. When she was approached by Ms. Woodley, Ms. Grubesic recalled, “I said, ‘I already phone-bank.’” What Ms. Grubesic did not disclose is that she makes calls for someone else, or rather the woman who in this context might be considered the other presidential candidate in the Democratic field.

To be 18 or 25 or in your early 30s and support Hillary Clinton can be compared to loving synthetic wool in New Zealand. It is a lonely and alienating relationship that will leave you vulnerable to accusations that you fail to appreciate the genuine, the authentic. Early in the academic year, when the notion of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee seemed to be a foregone conclusion, Cian Saunders, also a freshman, sent an email blast to the Columbia University Democrats in an effort to start a pro-Clinton group. Three people wrote back saying they would like to be involved in helping to lead it. The group, in which Ms. Grubesic and another student, Caitlin Carey, play active roles, holds weekly meetings. Typically no more than a half-dozen people show up.

The affection for Bernie Sanders among the young transcends even certain racial divisions. Although blacks are overwhelmingly appreciative of Mrs. Clinton, exit polls in 21 primaries and caucuses suggested that more than half of black voters ages 17 to 24 favored her opponent, according to Edison Research. Among Hispanic voters in the same age group, nearly three-quarters favored Mr. Sanders, the Edison figures indicated.