It’s no secret that millennials were gaga over Bernie Sanders. And by no means was it because he’s young. The old geezer is 75 which is 6 years older than Hillary. And he looks and speaks in a manner that makes him seem way more senile than that! So why is it?-Why did millennials bow down to Bernie? Well, as the Huffington Post so lovingly answers- “It’s the authenticity, stupid.”  They elaborate further: “For those of us who care deeply about policy and authenticity, it’s hard to get excited by studied politicians who craft messages based on polling and who drift in the winds of time.” This, right here, is the simple reason why millennials’ support for Hillary is lukewarm at best. She is inauthentic to them and they do not trust her.

In order for Hillary to gain some authenticity and to show millennials that she really did care about them, one tactic she has tried is playing “The Grandma Card” and I personally feel that it was a great idea to win over millennials. According to Kristen Soltis Anderson, who has studied trends in the opinions and values of young voters, millennials care very deeply about family. By Hillary rhetorically positioning herself as a sweet, loving grandmother, it seems logical that the youth’s trust in her and respect for her would grow.

Sometimes, the Grandma Card worked like a charm. For example, when Clinton unveiled her goals for renewable energy, she said, “The republicans on the other side, when you ask them about climate change, they all say ‘Well, I’m not a scientist.’ Well, I’m not a scientist either, I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and brain and I know that this is an issue we have to address.” Experts labeled this use of the grandma card as ‘brilliant.’ And brilliant it is- Clinton shows us that because she has grandchildren whose wellbeing she cares deeply about, she obviously wants our government to take detrimental climate change very seriously.

However, sometimes the whole #GrandmothersKnowBest (which is an actual hashtag that Clinton actually used on Twitter) can come across as inauthentic. For example, in the first debate, moderator Lester Holt began by asking Hillary why she is the better choice in this election to “create the kinds of jobs that will put more money into the pockets of American workers.” Before answering, Hillary redirected the question by asserting her focus on “what kind of country we want to be” and “what kind of future we’ll build together.” She answered her own question by saying, “Today is my granddaughter’s second birthday, so I think about this a lot” before going back into the issue of job creation. According to an article by Western Journalism, critics blasted Clinton for this “blatant ploy to connect with voters.”

So did the grandma card work for Hillary? Well, I think the examples show us that this tactic worked when it was smooth and integrated well into the subject and there was true authenticity behind the words. However, when the playing of the grandma card was calculated and premeditated, it did not go over well with the public. Authenticity is key- always.

Colin Delany, a digital strategy consultant and founder of Epolitics.com, is a leading voice in online strategies for politicians. Delany’s highly esteemed guide to effective online political campaigning and advocacy entitled “How to Use the Internet to Win in 2016: A Comprehensive Guide to Online Politics for Campaigns and Advocates” provides interesting insights into how politicians should develop their online presence. According to Delany’s guide, one of the essential tools for online politics is a candidate’s website. Websites are necessary to build a supporter base, make good first impressions, and encourage donations as well as supporters. They show the country who you are and what you stand for, therefore content is key.

Delany’s guide can be utilized to analyze why Hillary Clinton’s website is more effective than Trumps’, specifically regarding appealing to millennials. Millennials are the generation that most frequently uses technology so I find it brilliant that Clinton targets her website towards this demographic.

When comparing the websites of Trump and Clinton, the first thing that drew my eye was the fact that Clinton, unlike Trump, has an “en espanol” option on her home page. This is strategic of Hillary considering the fact that hispanic millennials “account for nearly half of the record 27.3 million Hispanics eligible to vote in November,” according to an article by the Boston Globe.

As discussed by Delany, content matters most in websites, and content wise, Hillary knocks it out of the park compared to Trump. Trump’s campaign website includes 10,000 words regarding 9 policies while Hillary’s website includes 117,000 words on 38 policies. Millennials are passionate about various issues. Hillary’s top issues laid out in her website include LGBT rights and equality, racial justice, making college debt-free, campus sexual assault, climate change, and women’s rights– none of which are mentioned in Trump’s website. Each of these issues listed are of great importance to young voters, and I believe that the inclusion of such content bodes well for Hillary regarding her approval from young voters.

Hillary also has a section of her website devoted specifically to young voters. It has surveys they can take to get their ideas out, information on how to get involved in the campaign, and useful links to Hillary’s policies and plans-of-attack on issues millennials have vested interest in like debt-free college. 

Both Hillary and Trump’s websites include the basic ingredients for appealing to millennials. They are pleasing to the eye and easy to use. They integrate social media pages, sell trendy/ punny merchandise, utilize videos, and are compatible with smart phones. However, Hillary’s website content simply trumps Trump’s when it comes to attracting young voters. I believe that Hillary’s website is and will continue to be successful in gaining support for her campaign.

El voto joven hispano. The young hispanic vote. A demographic that is absolutely crucial to Hillary’s victory in the tipping point state of Florida (and beyond). Hispanic millennials “account for nearly half of the record 27.3 million Hispanics eligible to vote in November,” according to an article by the Boston Globe, and the 48% of them who support Hillary are doing so unenthusiastically. “64 percent,” of these hispanic millennials, “described their support more as a vote against Donald Trump than a vote for her.”

Because of this, the Clinton campaign has been very strategic in using rhetoric to appeal to the Hispanic millennial generation. Here are a few examples of how Hillary is trying to get these young hispanics fired up:

1. Hillary runs bilingual television, radio, and digital ads to appeal to Spanish-speaking voters and to show them that she views them as an integral and important part of our country. One of these ads entitled “Juntos se Puede,” which translates to “Together we Can,” features young families excited to exercise their right to vote and also features some beloved establishments in South Florida.
2. The Clinton campaign cut a powerful ad featuring former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado. In this ad, Machado, a hispanic icon, describes Trump’s verbal abusive behavior after she gained some weight. Machado explains, in Spanish, the eating disorder that she suffered from due to the scrutiny of Trump and the media.
3. According to the Boston Globe, “Clinton is also heavily courting Puerto Rican voters in Florida, given the tens of thousands migrating off the island each year to escape its financial crisis. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and can vote immediately.” “Caravanas” ride through the Puerto Rican-dense neighborhoods blaring salsa and reggaeton music waving Clinton campaign signs and Puerto Rican flags in order to stir up excitement for Hillary.

I believe that appeals such as these will be effective in gaining Hillary support among the young Hispanic demographic. However, in order to win this election, these efforts need to increase. Time is of the essence. The Hispanic millennials are not enthusiastic about Hillary, and she needs to give them reason to be. Through ads and blog posts and speeches, Hillary needs to show this group of millennials that she’s not just catering to them to gain their vote, that she actually cares about them and the issues that they stand for.

 

4 years ago, I did not consider myself a feminist. I thought, “No, no, no…feminists are angry women who don’t shave their legs or their armpits.” That all changed when I saw Emma Watson’s address to the United Nations in which she exposes what feminism really means- the advocacy of women’s rights being the same as men’s. Gender equality.

I have noticed an upswing in modern day feminism. Powerful celebrities like Emma Watson and Lena Dunham and Beyonce are popularizing the term and making it more socially acceptable. Girl Power is here! It’s cool to be a feminist! Needless to say, it’s got a lot of girls very excited that there may finally be a female president come November. Especially one who has devoted much of her career to promoting gender equality. “Too often, these are called women’s issues,” Hillary has said, “Well, I am a proud lifelong fighter for women’s issues, because I firmly believe what’s good for women is good for America.”

Hillary, solely based on her gender, is a beacon of hope to thousands and thousands of women around the world. I believe that it is in Hillary’s best interest to emphasize her gender rhetorically in order to appeal to female millennials and positively affect her campaign. I believe she should continue to talk about women’s issues, continue attacking Trump for the disrespectful things he has said about women, and emphasize how legendary it would be to elect a female president.

Hillary is a strong supporter of equal rights, and she has fought for legislation advocating for gender quality on countless occassions. It is an issue that is very important to her. Before conducting my research on this topic, however, I did not realize what a champion of women’s rights Hillary was. She needs to speak directly to women on these issues more often. For example, Hillary wrote a blog post entitled “Hillary Clinton’s Powerful Message to Young Women” in Refinery29, a millennial-targeted style and beauty blog.

Outside pro-Hillary groups are also releasing ads targeting female millennials, which helps Hillary’s poll numbers. According to the New York Times, “Priorities USA, the “super PAC” supporting Hillary Clinton, and Emily’s List, the political action committee that works to elect Democratic women, have partnered” on a campaign to promote Hillary Clinton and rhetorically advance her as a champion of women.

Trump accused Hillary of playing the “woman card…” Well I think she needs to up the ante.

The role of surrogates in a presidential election is both simple and crucial- to amplify support of a candidate or campaign message. They can say things that the candidate feels uncomfortable saying, speak to audiences, and aid in fund-raising.

Rewind a few decades and you find little Hillary volunteering for political campaigns at the astonishing age of 13. Adored by teachers. Voted most likely to succeed in high school. Graduating with honors in the top 10% of her class. She’s been a raging success for the entirety of her life- a token child, soaring above the rest- and perhaps for that reason, she is just not relatable to millennials. She’s not cool, she’s not hip. She’s “most likely to succeed…” that girl…

Luckily, Clinton has a multitude of #hip #trendy celebrities that are publicly “with her” because they can be extremely influential in attracting millennial votes- especially if these surrogates are themselves included in this generation. For example, the following young actresses and musicians had active roles in the Democratic National Convention: Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Lena Dunham, America Ferrera, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Silverman, and Demi Lovato. These big names functioned to show millennials how cool Hillary was and to say, “I may be ‘most likely to succeed,’ but I’m still friends with all the popular kids.” It gave her ‘coolness credibility’ among the younger vote.

…Hillary’s #1!

There are dozens of other celebrities that publicly support Hillary via social media, apparel, fundraisers. Here are some big names whose support speaks volumes to millennials:

Lena Dunham– actress, writer, producer, director, activist, and proud Hillary supporter. She gave a speech at the DNC, conducted an interview with Hillary for her widely received newsletter, and clearly has some pretty loud Hillary garb. She shared the ph0to above on her Instagram.

Lady Gaga- singer, songwriter, and actress. Gaga posted an Instagram of herself in an American flag swimsuit with a caption that says “#HILLARY2016 Nothing can keep a strong woman down. VOTE for the first female U.S. president in history. Shake it up America, this country needs a little rock n’ roll.” It received 365,000 likes. Hillary posted the Instagram of them pictured above.

Kim Kardashian- reality television personality, socialite, businesswoman, and model. Attends fundraisers for Hillary, and tweeted this picture (to her nearly 50 million followers) with her with the caption “I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country!” #HillaryForPresident”

Each of these celebrities and countless others are beloved by millennials. Though a simple social media post may seem insignificant, they reach thousands and thousands of young voters. And they are extremely important. Hillary’s campaign is greatly benefitted by the use of these celebrity surrogates because they function to convince millennials that Clinton is in fact #hip and #trendy because she has these celebrities by her side, taking selfies with her. I believe she will see positive results on her poll numbers if she gets more publicity of this sort.

 

From the beginning of her campaign, Hillary Clinton has been seeking the vote of the millennials, but frankly, she needs to do more if she wants to be the next president.

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Here’s Clinton’s issue: 

The millennial coalition hates Trump. But we’re not too crazy about Hillary, either.

According an NBC News| SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll released just hours before the debate, 49 percent of those under the age of 30 said they backed Clinton versus 26 percent for Trump. Meanwhile, 16 percent of those 18 to 29 said they backed Johnson and 7 percent for Stein.

Higher numbers of young people are backing third party candidates like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein than ever before. Their reason being that they are sick and tired of the corruption in US politics and the influence “big money” has on our politicians.

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Here’s how Clinton has tried to win over the millennials this past year or so:

She’s tried to tweet us:

(Which felt trivializing and earned her some nasty response tweets like the following:)

She’s tried to snapchat us:

(Which was, I think we can all agree, incredibly awkward).

She’s tried to humor us on our favorite youtube channels:

And everything in between. Essentially she’s an old person trying to be cool online which is always painful for us millennials. It’s been entertaining, sure, but we wonder if Clinton doesn’t give us enough credit. We are educated, we are intelligent, and we are powerful. We have issues we care deeply about. If she wants the millennial vote, she needs to assure us that she will fight racial and ethnic inequality, corruption, and student debt.

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Here’s what Clinton needs to do differently:

Clinton wrote a blog post on Mic, a media company that targets millennials, and discussed the issues we care most about. She also laid out her specific plans to attack them. “I can promise you this,” she said in her final lines, “I’ll never stop fighting for you.”

We need more of this. More content. We need Clinton to target our issues in the next debate. We need her to discuss police brutality and climate change and mass incarceration way more than she did last week. We need her to show us she cares about us.