Clinton, Trump struggle to woo millennial voters

Thursday, September 29, 2016 - 16:09 StudyHall.Rocks

Candidates want to win over young voters.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, turned 18 years old in 1964, an election year. His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was just 17. But neither of the two would have been qualified to vote.

It wasn't until 1971 that Congress ratified the 26th Amendment, empowering 18-year-old American citizens as never before. “The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age,” the amendment says.
All these years later, Clinton and Trump share a common interest in young voters. Clinton will turn 69 in October. Trump is 70. Both have used their 30-something daughters as surrogates in courting the younger generation. But millennial voters are not necessarily pushovers.
Two recent surveys reveal that younger voters lean toward Clinton but are not passionate about either candidate. Here is an overview:

Millennial voters are consolidating behind Clinton, but not as strongly as they backed President Barack Obama.

In a Quinnipiac University poll, 55 percent of voters ages 18-34 said they support Clinton; 34 percent support Trump; 3 percent support someone else; and the remaining 8 percent either didn’t answer or don’t know how they will vote. If third party candidates are included, 31 percent in that age group support Clinton, 26 percent support Trump, 29 percent support Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and the remainder support Jill Stein of the Green Party.
In the NextGen Climate/Project New America Battleground Millennial Survey, 44 percent of voters ages 18 to 34 said they would vote for Clinton over Trump in a two-way race. Trump would win 23 percent of the vote, while 10 percent said they were undecided, and 23 percent wouldn’t vote for president.
Young voters can change an election's outcome. In 2012, Obama won 62 percent of voters ages 18-29 in Ohio. He won 66 percent of that age group in Florida, 61 percent in Virginia and 63 percent in Pennsylvania. If not for young voters, those four states would have been won by the Republican, Mitt Romney, who would have then taken the presidency, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

Millennial voters have curbed their enthusiasm.

Quinnipiac asked voters about their motivation level during this election. About 39 percent of the 18-to-34 group said their motivation was about the same, while 34 percent said they were more motivated and 23 percent were less motivated. Comparatively, about 35 percent of voters age 65 and older said their motivation level was about the same, while 54 percent of voters in that age group are more motivated, and only 11 percent are less motivated.

A growing number see sharp differences between the candidates.

In the NextGen survey, likely voters were asked whether they agree or disagree with the following statement: “On the issues most important to you, there is no real difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.” When answering that question in July, 36 percent agreed with that statement, while 64 percent disagreed. But in August, 29 percent agreed, and 71 percent disagreed.

So how do favorable ratings for Clinton and Trump stack up against Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and the fictional Lord Voldlemort?

Phelps is the winner, with a 73 percent favorable rating among millennial voters, according to the NextGen survey. Obama also was given a high rating -- 67 percent view him favorably. It’s all downhill from there: 44 percent had a favorable view of Clinton, 23 percent viewed Trump favorably, 14 percent held a favorable view of Harry-Potter villain Voldemort, and both Lochte and Putin won a favorable rating from only 10 percent of young voters.

About the surveys:

The NextGen Climate/Project New America Battleground Millennial Survey, taken in the final week of August, focused on 1,652 millennial residents (including 902 likely voters) in 11 battleground states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
On its website, NextGen Climate identifies climate change as the most pressing issue of our time. Project New America is a data and analysis business that caters to progressives.
The second survey was released by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, which produces polls as a public service and for academic research. The school questioned 960 likely voters from Sept. 8 to 13.

To know more:

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University: At least 80 electoral votes depended on youth.
Cornell Law School: Text of the 26th Amendment.
The NextGen Climate/Project New America: Battleground Millennial Survey.
The National Constitution Center: 26th Amendment.
Quinnipiac University: Trump cuts Clinton lead in half.

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