Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont has picked up 40 points of support from young Democrats and has pulled ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among that group, according to a poll released Thursday by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.

Mr. Sanders had a 6-point, 41 percent to 35 percent edge over Mrs. Clinton among 18- to 29-year-olds, according to the survey.

That’s a big change from a Harvard IOP poll released in April, when Mr. Sanders was at 1 percent and Mrs. Clinton was at 47 percent, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 11 percent and Vice President Joseph R. Biden at 8 percent.

About two-thirds of young Democrats said the fact that Mr. Sanders is a self-described “Democratic socialist” doesn’t make a difference to them. Twenty-four percent said it makes them more likely to support Mr. Sanders, and 9 percent said it makes them less likely to support him.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley — the only major Democratic contender remaining in the 2016 race — was at less than 1 percent. In the survey released in April, Mr. O’Malley had been at 3 percent.

Overall, 56 percent of young Americans in the survey released Thursday said they prefer that a Democrat win the White House in 2016, compared to 36 percent who said they prefer to see a Republican win. That’s comparable to the 55 percent who preferred a Democrat and 40 percent who preferred a Republican in the survey released in April.

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