Hillary is hard sell to Millennials - Is she already starting to lose them?
By Heather Higgins & Carrie Lukas
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Hillary Clinton has finally secured the Democratic nomination.
Alarmingly for Democrats though a recent poll found that young Democrats dont just prefer the more liberal Senator Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.
Hillary has also been hemorrhaging Millennials support to Donald Trump.
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 rather than the expected cake walk she had to slog through a bruising Democratic primary season and has failed to generate much enthusiasmparticularly among younger voters.
Back in March Clinton enjoyed a nearly 40 margin of support among voters ages 18-29 in a head-to-head matchup with Trump. Yet
by May just 45 of registered millennial voters said theyd vote for Hillary compared to 42 who supported Trump.
Hillarys problems with young voters arent just her age and association with a past presidency that occurred when many of these voters were still in diapers. Hillarys messaging tends to be out-of-tune with the aspirations of young voters.
Take this Clinton campaign email attempting to raise money in anticipation of the general election. After some obligatory insults against her opponent the campaign reassures their supporters:
But were going to challenge Donald Trump and his campaign. Hes not going to build a grassroots organizing program to reach voters at their doors but thats exactly how this campaign is spending its time. He doesnt think that data is important (which is literally a thing he says in interviews).
We uhm disagree and ground every decision that we make in the best science we can find. And most importantly were going to rebut every ugly divisive argument he makes every time he opens his dumb mouth.
In other words Hillarys own campaign is arguing that its not her message political vision or experience thats going to defeat Donald Trump. Her political machine can do The Donald in. Clinton is advertising to her donors that their money will be used for more
polling paid door knocking and high priced politicos to craft the most rigorously message-tested talking points... all those elements of politics that voters - particularly young voters - abhor.
Clinton might assume that Millennials the most tech-savvy generation will embrace anything related to data." Yet Millennials love of technology stems from how it empowers them as individuals not that it can reduce them to mere data points and create opportunities for manipulation.
Almost as off-putting as when Hillary showcases herself as a hardened political tactician is when she attempts to refashion herself as an outsider dedicated to taking on the establishment. Heres another revealing campaign email:
I want to make sure you saw the news about Sheldon Adelson. This guy is an infamous conservative casino magnate and this week he pledged to raise ungodly amounts of money for Donald Trump maybe more than $100 million according to The New York Times.
$100 million! And right now were assuming that a big chunk of that money is going STRAIGHT to funding vicious ads against Hillary in places like Ohio and Florida.
While Trump takes mammoth checks from billionaires whod get mammoth tax cuts if he became president were building our campaign a different way: ...we need everyone to step up to take on Trump and his army of billionaires. Can you help right now (and claim your free Team Hillary sticker!)?
Even the most low-information voter knows that Mrs. Clinton is hardly shocked by money in politics. In fact the former First Lady is renowned for raking in hundred-thousand-dollar checks from big banks and foreign governments. Bernie Sanders knew this and
consistently highlighted Mrs. Clintons cozy corporatism understanding that young idealistic voters crave a different kind of politics which prioritizes regular peoples interests over the politically-connected.
Yet Clinton expects her voters to have convenient amnesia when it comes to her long history of corporatism and corruption.
Perhaps much of the mainstream media will oblige but young voters see this kind of inauthenticity as poisonous. Mrs. Clintons vacillations between pretending shes a helpless grandmother confused by modern technologies like blackberries and iPhones and the most sophisticated intelligent modern woman on the planet is as embarrassingly transparent as her donning different accents for her campaign speeches depending on the region or her campaigns occasional tossing of a swear word into her emails as a way to seem hip.
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 its 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.
As long as Mrs. Clinton appears as contrived and nakedly crafted by campaign consultants as she does today shes going to struggle to earn the support - much less the enthusiasm - of young Americans.
Heather R. Higgins is President and CEO of Independent Womens Voice; Carrie Lukas is the vice president for policy at the Independent Womens Voice.
