According to Pew Research results from last week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has managed to gain only 30 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 60 percent. He even lags behind the past two Republican nominees — 38 percent of millennial voters supported Romney in 2012, and 39 percent backed McCain in 2008.
In Alex Swoyer’s article for Breitbart, two experts suggest that Trump should refocus his campaign on jobs, women, and Clinton’s email scandal as a means to court more young voters.
“It’s all about jobs,” said Hogan Gidley, former communications director for Mike Huckabee. “Trump’s ability to create jobs and put Americans back to work again is a message that will appeal to millennials — who in many cases are graduating from college with a mountain of debt and no job to be found.”
In other words, Trump needs to draw a clear contrast from Clinton by highlighting how disastrous Obama-Clinton policies have been for recent college graduates, specifically the fact that student loan debt continues to climb and job opportunities are practically nonexistent.
“What opportunities will a Trump administration open for them?” Gildey asked. “He hasn’t addressed this yet with any clarity. But he has time, and this is one area he now needs to begin to expand his message beyond the one that helped him win the Republican primary.”
On the other hand, Gabrielle Jackson Bosché, author of The Millennial Entrepreneur, believes that Trump can capitalize on the number of millennial women who supported Bernie Sanders over Clinton during the Democratic primaries.
“Millennial women are having the hardest time getting ready for Hillary,” Bosché said. “Playing the woman card isn’t working for Hillary because she isn’t relatable. Bernie Sanders wins the millennial women vote with his perception of authenticity and honesty. Trump has a real opportunity to snag Bernie supporters away from Hillary.”
Gildey pointed out that Trump has a solid record of hiring women, placing them in leadership positions, and paying them as much as their male counterparts, while Hillary talks about equal pay, but has a history of not paying her female staffers as much as her male employees.
Bosché also cited FBI director James Comey’s testimony of Clinton’s careless email use with a private server during her time as Secretary of State as a way to reach young voters.
“In order to win the millennial vote away from Hillary, Trump needs to remind voters how crooked Hillary really is,” she said. “Both millennial men and women care about justice—a lot. And we will find this young generation rejecting Hillary for president because she lacks authenticity. Millennials may never get butterflies voting for Trump. But Hillary’s America will make them feel sick.”
