Capitol Police have mistaken 30-year-old Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., for an intern. But her Republican colleagues won’t be making the same mistake, especially since she may offer Republican their best chance of attracting millennial voters, whose support the GOP desperately desires.
Stefanik, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, ran for office because she wanted more young voices to be heard. The average age of her House colleagues is 57. So it was not surprising when Stefanik was tapped to chair a Republican Policy Committee hearing on millennials in the GOP.
The Tuesday hearing focused on how the Republican Party can attract young voters in 2016 and beyond. Experts discussed millennials’ demographics and political tendencies.
Republicans have every reason not to take the youth vote lightly. According to the Albany Times Union, there are 75 million “millennials” who range in age from 19-36 years old.
Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, said at the hearing that millennials are now the largest generation in the labor force.
The large turnout among young voters for Barack Obama’s 2008 election demonstrated the impact they can have. A Pew Research Center study discussed at the hearing shows millennials are the most Democratic generation. But Pew also found that about half identified as independents in 2014. Many hold “socially liberal and fiscally conservative” stances.
Stefanik believes ineffective communication between politicians and young voters, not the Republican platform, is the problem, reported the Times Union. “Millennials want to feel engaged in the process, and I think we can communicate with them differently,” she said.
Jared Meyer, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, said at the hearing that both Republican and Democratic politicians too often dismiss millennials’ concerns. “Many millennials choose not to vote because they feel left behind by politicians in both parties,” said Meyer. “Leaders in Washington need to evaluate policies through the lens of how they affect new entrants to the workforce.”
Republicans can boast that they are the younger party. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., 35, said at the hearing that the Republicans’ House leadership is on average 19 years younger than the Democrats’. Smith also noted that the younger candidate has won five of the last six presidential elections. This year, the average age of Democratic presidential candidates is 63, while the Republican average is 57. The three youngest candidates — Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal — are 44, a year older than John F. Kennedy was when he was elected.
Stefanik argued that engaging young voters through social media is a good start. The representative posted pictures to the House GOP Instagram account before the meeting and invited guests at the hearing to tweet questions with the hashtag #GOPFuture. On Facebook, she posts every vote in order to “tap into that requirement for transparency.”
Research from Pew supports her point. A study found that 61 percent of millennials receive news from Facebook. Among presidential hopefuls, the GOP seems to have an advantage. As of today, six Republicans have more than 1 million likes, while no Democrats meet that mark (although Hillary Clinton is getting close).
Stefanik wants more young people, not just as voters but as policymakers, too. “Absolutely, there need to be more millennials in Congress,” Stefanik told the Times Union. “And I think it’s inevitable that there will be more millennials in Congress, but I’m proud to be one of the first.”
Stefanik plans to conduct a series of similar hearings with the goal of not just winning elections but also of crafting policies that will excite young people.
Emily Leayman is an intern at the Washington Examiner
