The current American presidential election has showcased prime examples of how the political game and communications in marketing campaigns has progressed.
With the specific nature of the messaging, divided personalities and reputations of both remaining candidates, divided millennials are attracted to and discouraged by both candidates for different reasons.
According to Fortune Magazine, many young voters find that there is a certain level of distrust for both candidates, while they also support some of the issues that both candidates have spoken about.
But which candidate has the best chance of winning the millennial vote come November?
For a large portion of the campaign, Bernie Sanders was considered the overwhelming favourite for millennial voters. His platform for making college tuition free, his call to make ‘the wealthy, Wall Street and large corporations pay their fair share’ and his desire to combat climate change were all issues that truly resonated with the millennial demographic, as shown in earning a favourable rating of 54 percent compared to both Hillary Clinton (37 percent) and Donald Trump (17 percent) among the millennial generation as near as two months ago.
A further showcase of millennial opinion can be seen according to this Gallup chart from April.
But since Hillary Clinton won the nomination to run against Donald Trump, there have been shifts in the millennial approach to the election.
Here are some statistics about how mass millennial opinion has shifted this election.
– 72% of millennial Sanders supporters now support Clinton, while 11% support Trump and 17% are unsure or may not vote.
– The percentage of millennials expected to vote in has fallen
– 31% of millennials believed Clinton to be more trustworthy after the DN
– Clinton currently beats Trump in the millennial vote 56%-20%
Also, according to USA Today:
In (a) new poll, Hillary Clinton wins more lopsided support among the largest generation in American history. But there’s still a warning flag here: She doesn’t yet generate the sort of enthusiasm that would guarantee high turnout in November.
How relevant is the millennial vote in the upcoming election?
According to the Pew Research Center, millennials, who already have surpassed Baby Boomers as the United States’ largest living generation, now have caught up to the Boomers when it comes to their share of the American electorate.
As of April 2016, an estimated 69.2 million millennials were voting-age U.S. citizens – a number almost equal to the 69.7 million Baby Boomers in the nation’s electorate. Both generations comprise roughly 31% of the voting-eligible population.
As seen in the recent Brexit vote, the voter turnout of millennials has extreme power in deciding critical political action. With the lack of millennial vote compared to Baby Boomer vote in the UK referendum, it is clear that the millennial voice cannot be represented if civic action is not taken.
With a majority of millennials voting Remain in the Brexit vote, the decision to Leave was based on the larger number of older voters that turned out for the vote.
As the clock winds down on the current American election, and as candidates make their final push for gaining the utmost number of votes, the millennial vote stands to be among the most critical demographics to be targeted for the remainder of 2016 as well as future political campaigns.
Do you believe in the power of millennials’ votes? How would you predict the election result? Let me know in the comment!
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