Millennial voters were a critical part of the coalition that twice elected Barack Obama as president. And, clearly, Hillary Clinton is counting on those same young voters supporting her over Donald Trump to elevate her to the Oval Office. But is she already starting to lose them?
IWV's President & CEO Heather R. Higgins and VP for Policy & Economic Carrie Lukas write in a new piece at the Huffington Post that Hillary is proving to be a hard sell to Millennials:
Alarmingly for Democrats, a recent poll found that young Democrats don’t just prefer the more liberal Senator Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton. Hillary has also been hemorrhaging Millennials’ support to Donald Trump. Back in March, Clinton enjoyed a nearly 40 percent margin of support among voters ages 18-29 in a head-to-head matchup with Trump. Yet by May, just 45 percent of registered millennial voters said they’d vote for Hillary, compared to 42 percent who supported Trump.
Hillary’s problems with young voters aren’t just her age and association with a past presidency that occurred when many of these voters were still in diapers. Hillary’s messaging tends to be out-of-tune with the aspirations of young voters. …
Young voters want to be inspired and believe that they themselves are a positive force for change, rather than just another voting cohort that needs to be courted as a part of politics-as-usual. That sense of history attracted them to President Obama and Bernie Sanders. And it’s why Mrs. Clinton is losing them. The Donald may not speak to their higher aspirations, either, but at least his personae – the hair and rough accent – stays consistent. Democrats joke about “Donald being Donald,” but his unscripted character is a big part of his appeal to many voters frustrated with politics.
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