Sen. Bernie Sanders, 74, a Vermont independent, will head into the Democratic presidential debate Sunday with a 19-point lead over front-runner Hillary Clinton, 50% to 31%, among Democratic and independent women ages 18 to 34, according to a recent USA TODAY/Rock the Vote poll.

Millennial women are among the supporters Sanders is counting on to help him pull off an upset Feb. 1 in Iowa, where his poll numbers are surging, and hold his lead in New Hampshire, which will hold a primary Feb. 9, to give him the momentum he needs to succeed in later contests where Clinton is favored.

“The challenge of this election is to disprove the skeptics who believe (young people) don’t vote,” said Tad Devine, Sanders’ senior adviser. “Obama and his campaign took that on, they disproved it, it became the source of their victory. We’re trying to do the same thing.”