The voting preferences and habits of millennials first became clear in the 2008 election.
Millennials tend to have liberal values, view themselves as champions of social justice, utilize social media to communicate, and desire societal change.
It is for those reasons that Bernie Sanders developed staunch millennial support throughout his campaign, and though Hillary Clinton claimed the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders’ campaign made one truth clear — he changed the election.
According to The Christian Science Monitor, generation experts and political analysts predict that millennial perspectives will more heavily inform the issues and processes that determine future elections.
Michael Hais, a veteran market researcher and co-author of three books on millennials, believes that future candidates will have to learn from Sanders and communicate in a way that resonates with this generation.
“[Sanders] struck a chord that this generation is receptive to,” Hais told the Monitor. “They’ve had these basic attitudes … and that’s going to persist. They are going to shape the policy of the future.”
Candidates will need to engage prospective voters on social media. Tweets appeared in the media and on the screens of millennials at an astonishing rate throughout the campaign, and hashtags such as #NeverTrump and #FeeltheBern communicated the stance of the poster and raised awareness.
David Hemphill, a children’s book publisher, believes that the information available to millennials contributes to their involvement in elections.
“We’re the most educated, connected generation in the history of the world,” he told the Monitor. “We have the internet at our fingertips.” Hais agreed, saying that the internet is the best way of appealing to millennials.
“People really discount what the internet voice is. I think it’s very short sighted,” Hemphill added. “I think that people are [now] awake and alive and I can only hope that it continues. We can’t go back.”
Though not all millennials support Sanders, his calls for change and his economic views attracted many, proving that large numbers of millennials are uninterested in “cookie-cutter” politicians. Millennials are also interested in the character of politicians, their integrity, and transparency.
While future candidates might not hold the radical views of socialist reform that Sanders does, it would behoove them to remember the power that social media, the internet, and a message of change can have on millennials.
