Hillary Clinton really wants millennial votes.
The Democratic nominee’s campaign has made it no secret it views millennials as the key to victory in the fall, and it has gone hard after this voting bloc with everything from targeted op-eds to rallies on college campuses.
And Clinton’s campaign is doubling its efforts after recent polling showed she has been hemorrhaging millennial support to third-party candidates.
Clinton’s latest pitch to younger voters came Monday morning in an essay titled “Here’s What Millennials Have Taught Me.”
“Your generation is the most open, diverse and entrepreneurial generation in our country’s history. And if we work together to take on the barriers that are holding you back and unleash your full potential, that won’t just improve your lives — it’ll make our entire country stronger,” said the Democratic candidate’s essay, which was published by Mic.
“[L]et’s stand together to show the world what our country, and your generation, really stands for. Let’s overwhelm division and intolerance with compassion, understanding and unity. Let’s make clear that Love Trumps Hate — not just this November, but always,” it concluded.
If the Mic essay feels familiar, it’s because it’s an almost a note-for-note recitation of an article the Democratic candidate’s campaign submitted to Teen Vogue in August.
“Everywhere I go, smart, driven young people are … standing up to some of the biggest challenges in the world today, from income inequality to gun violence to climate change,” the Teen Vogue essay stated.
“[Y]our generation embodies everything that is most right with America,” she wrote, adding, millennials are more “diverse, open, and connected than ever.”
“If you’re reading this, it’s a safe bet that you’re part of that as well,” she concluded. “We have to come together to build an America that reflects the values your generation embodies — diversity, openness, innovation — and stop those who want to take us in a very different direction. Your age group is the largest American generation living today.”
Clinton’s Mic essay is just one example of her renewed push to reach out to millennial voters. Her team has increased the number of rallies held on college campuses, and it has also hosted several Facebook live chats.
The candidate herself held a call with students at Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina.
Clinton’s team even released a “college calculator” for potential students to determine the cost of higher education.
The Democratic nominee’s surrogates, including President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, first lady Michelle Obama, Chelsea Clinton, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and one-time primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have all hit the campaign trail with messages aimed directly at courting millennials.
Sanders, who beat Clinton with younger voters during the Democratic primary, appeared last week at Kent and Akron, Ohio, to pitch her plan to make free community college and debt-free college available to voters. He also talked about increasing access to healthcare, immigration reform, increasing the minimum wage and combating climate change.
Warren appeared in Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, this weekend to pitch Clinton’s college plan and to encourage millennials to register to vote.
The Obamas and former president Clinton likewise stressed the Democratic nominee’s debt-free college proposal.
The Clinton campaign has dispatched hundreds of “campus organizers” as part of an effort to make good on its promise to register approximately 3 million new voters for the 2016 election.
And then there’s Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who has targeted millennial voters with op-eds and multiple campus appearances.
“The renewed focus on millennial voters is consistent with Clinton’s commitment to earn the support of young voters in this election. While Donald Trump continues to offer nothing but hateful and divisive rhetoric, Hillary Clinton remains committed to creating a brighter future for millennials,” the Clinton campaign said.
A former Sanders aide who now heads Clinton’s national campus outreach told Time magazine the campaign will continue to focus on millennials as it sees that younger voting bloc as the key to success in November.
“We’re going to make really aggressive pushes to get students to the polls,” said Kunoor Ojha, who also worked for the Obama campaign. “She’s a candidate who cares about people whether or not they voted for her in the primary.”
Clinton is scheduled to deliver an address aimed directly at millennials Monday afternoon.
