Now that Hillary Clinton has dispatched Bernie Sanders, she needs to win over one of his core fan bases — young voters.
They came out in record numbers to elect Barack Obama as POTUS in 2008, and then again for his reelection four years later.
Millennials, roughly defined as people born between the early 1980s and 2000, are now larger in size than the Baby Boomers. Pew Research counts 75.4 million millennials in comparison to 74.9 million Baby Boomers.
Targeting young voters is vital to Clinton’s campaign, and this is how:
1. Deter Millennials From Voting For Trump
Millennials also represent a unique pickup opportunity for the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and they are already familiar with him in a different setting; as host of his own reality TV show.
His immense social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, including the exposure to people who don’t necessarily want to see posts about him, may present a challenge for Clinton to keep up.
For example, Saturday Night Live’s parody of Trump dancing to a Drake song has generated more than 7 million views on YouTube. Zac Moffatt, digital director for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, explained in an interview:
“Where he has a distinct advantage, he’ll find untraditional ways to get into their stream of life that could impact and help him at least resonate.”
Additionally, on issues like gay marriage, student debt and Planned Parenthood, Trump has proven a more moderate option than many others in the GOP, which is likely to appeal to Millennials. On the other hand, his rants about Mexicans, Muslims, women and the disabled to name a few, may not.
By highlighting the latter in her campaign, Clinton may be able to secure undecided Millennials to vote for her instead of Trump. According to Politico, Kristen Soltis Anderson, a GOP pollster and author of texts about her party’s need to appeal to millennial voters said last week:
“People want candidates who are kind to people of all walks of life. That’s not really what Donald Trump exudes.”
2. Be Authentic
Clinton has had her share of dislikes too, although not as bad as Trump. On the hipness factor though, she may fare worse. Her attempts to connect with younger people have frequently been met with online mockery.
The biggest fails are likely the Twitter request to express how voters feel about their student loan debt via emoji’s, which voters found disrespectful, and a Snapchat video of Clinton rapping next to a river in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Her campaign aides are well aware of the challenges they face in getting young people engaged, but say she’ll embrace her age. Sarah Audelo, the Clinton campaign’s youth vote director, made the following statement according to Politico:
“She doesn’t need to be cool. She just needs to be who she is. […] That’s what young people are interested in. Young people want authenticity.”
And Clinton is likely to get support from several top celebrities such as pop singer Katy Perry and actress Lena Dunham. Leave the millennial appeal and hipness factor to them.
3. Target Millennials On Their Own Turf
High school students who will be 18-years-old by election day are likely to expect their own special pitch, while college students and young professionals will receive others. According to Politico:
“Clinton’s youth-vote staffers are planning to take a listening tour of college campuses and other places where millennials work and congregate.”
Help is also at hand from billionaire Tom Steyer’s super PAC, NextGen Climate Action, which has hired a former Sanders staffer to work on a $25 million anti-Trump campaign, for voter registration efforts, on 200 college campuses including Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
4. Hire Sanders Staffers
The first high-profile Sanders staffer, specializing in college student outreach, just joined Clinton’s camp. According to Politico, advisers to both candidates say more Sanders staffers will be hired soon.
Sanders’ senior adviser Tad Devine, a longtime Democratic consultant who used to be the top presidential campaign aide to Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, explained how young people:
“Will engage and will turn out in this election particularly if they feel that there is an agenda being presented that will make a real difference in their lives.”
And obviously, Sanders’ staff know what they are talking about in regards to young voters, with Sanders netting an estimated 1.2 million more votes than Clinton among 18 to 29-year-olds during the 2016 primary and caucus contests.
But the general election will include millions of additional young people, whose choices will boil down to a pick among Clinton, Trump, a third party candidate, or no-one if they decide not to turn out at all.
Beth Lester Sidhu, COO at the Stagwell Group, an investment firm founded by Clinton’s former 2008 campaign chief strategist and pollster Mark Penn, explained the dilemma:
“You’re not going to spend your time on millennials who are not going to come out to vote at least in the ground game going into November in the same way a brand wouldn’t spend all of its time and resources going after someone who is only going to maybe try their product one out of five times.”
Also, the data and targeting tools that Sanders used in the Democratic primaries, with proven records of attracting young voters during the 2016 primary and caucus contests, will also be available to Clinton said Devine.
5. Hire Sanders Himself
And talks are ongoing between both campaigns about how to deploy Sanders later this summer and fall as a Clinton surrogate. Sanders’ senior adviser Tad Devine told Politico:
“They’re discussing all these things now, and once they figure it out, that’s what he’ll be doing.”
Ken Strasma, CEO of HaystaqDNA, a pioneer in the field of predictive analytics in high-stakes presidential campaigns, have the most faith in Sanders’ appeal to millennials:
“He’ll be one of the strongest surrogates for Clinton among young people.”
When it boils down to it, it’s Sanders himself who many of his campaign aides expect will be the main draw!
