diff -r e281a57d5b29 Lib/logging/handlers.py
--- a/Lib/logging/handlers.py	Tue Apr 19 08:53:14 2016 +0200
+++ b/Lib/logging/handlers.py	Tue Apr 19 09:26:46 2016 +0200
@@ -810,7 +810,7 @@
         self.facility = facility
         self.socktype = socktype
 
-        if isinstance(address, str):
+        if isinstance(address, (str, bytes)):
             self.unixsocket = True
             self._connect_unixsocket(address)
         else:
diff -r e281a57d5b29 Lib/test/test_logging.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_logging.py	Tue Apr 19 08:53:14 2016 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_logging.py	Tue Apr 19 09:26:46 2016 +0200
@@ -1619,6 +1619,24 @@
         SysLogHandlerTest.tearDown(self)
         os.remove(self.address)
 
+@unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(socket, "AF_UNIX"), "Unix sockets required")
+@unittest.skipUnless(threading, 'Threading required for this test.')
+@unittest.skipUnless(sys.platform == 'linux', 'Linux specific test')
+class UnixSysLogAbstractNamespaceHandlerTest(SysLogHandlerTest):
+
+    """Test for SysLogHandler with Unix sockets in the abstract namespace."""
+
+    if threading and hasattr(socket, "AF_UNIX"):
+        server_class = TestUnixDatagramServer
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        # override the definition in the base class
+        self.address = '\x00python_logging_test'
+        SysLogHandlerTest.setUp(self)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        SysLogHandlerTest.tearDown(self)
+
 @unittest.skipUnless(threading, 'Threading required for this test.')
 class HTTPHandlerTest(BaseTest):
     """Test for HTTPHandler."""
@@ -4187,7 +4205,7 @@
         ExceptionTest, SysLogHandlerTest, HTTPHandlerTest,
         NTEventLogHandlerTest, TimedRotatingFileHandlerTest,
         UnixSocketHandlerTest, UnixDatagramHandlerTest, UnixSysLogHandlerTest,
-        MiscTestCase)
+        UnixSysLogAbstractNamespaceHandlerTest, MiscTestCase)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()