Hillary Clinton continues to struggle with a voting bloc that helped propel President Obama into the White House - millennials. She has tried a variety of outreach techniques, but none seem to be working so far.
FiveThirtyEight reports that Clinton is only getting half as many votes from this critical "18-25" age group as Obama did during both of his elections. Not to say that they are going for Trump. They are not. Phew. But she is losing votes to third party candidates, and that is a problem. If it comes down to 2 candidates only, her support would go up. But not to Obama levels.
In an effort to bring voters to her side, there has been a big push from the both the President and the First Lady.
But now Hillary Clinton is focusing her attention on the millennial vote. Today she gave an impassioned speech directly to them. Here is what she said:.
A few notable quotes:
"You've fought for some of the most important accomplishments in our nation's history, like the Affordable Care Act and marriage equality. You've come together to challenge our country to protect human rights and strengthen families by fixing a broken immigration system, reforming our criminal justice system and ending the era of mass incarceration. And you've demanded that people of color be able to live their lives without fear of being killed at a routine traffic stop. And it's nothing short of inspiring."
Contrasting her vision for America with Trumps dystopian view:
"We've seen the rise of a presidential candidate who pits Americans against each other and traffics in prejudice and paranoia. I've heard how uneasy this race has made many of you feel — how chilling it is to see protesters beaten at political rallies while the candidate eggs them on. When he talks about making America great again, it's code for taking America back to a time when many of us — women, people of color, immigrants, LGBT Americans, people with disabilities — were marginalized, ostracized and treated as less-than."
She ends with an uplifting, solid, unifying view:
"So let'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.
Mother Jones writer, Kevin Drum, laid out a strong case for Hillary Clinton. Hopefully it will resonate with millennials. Oh, and there is the whole "she is sane, smart, successful, even tempered, not likely to start a twitter war with world leaders and launch nuclear weapons on her first day" thing.
