Why support for Clinton is surging among Millennials

[FuzzyLumpkins]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politic...ng-Millennials

In the months leading up to the election, Hillary Clinton has tweeted emojis, penned an essay for Mic, deadpanned with Zach Galifianakis, and appeared on stage with former Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders to discuss the cost of a college education.

Now, it would appear as though her intensified efforts to reach out to Millennial voters, a demographic she's struggled to woo throughout her campaign, have finally paid off. A new GenForward poll shows a sharp uptick in support for Mrs. Clinton among Americans ages 18 to 30, with the Democratic nominee now on track to receive as much support from Millennials as Barack Obama did in 2012. Sixty percent of respondents, surveyed in the first half of October, now say they would vote for her.

Support has risen especially among white Millennials, who just one month prior were split evenly between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, with both pulling in about 27 percent. Now, 35 percent of young whites say they would vote for Clinton, and 21 percent for Trump.

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But Millennials, academics, and pollsters alike all hesitate to attribute the increase to Clinton's efforts to appear more relatable to Millennial voters, which are widely written off by young people as inauthentic. Instead, they say, the shift in support for Clinton can be traced to a combination of factors, including a new focus on issues that matter to young Americans, an influential lineup of surrogates, and a growing realization that she is the only likely alternative to Donald Trump – a candidate with far lower favorability ratings among Millennials.

"Over time, young voters have really come to think that Gary Johnson doesn’t represent their interests, that [Green Party candidate] Jill Stein is not going to win, and that the stakes are very high in this election," Cathy Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and the lead author of the new study, told Vox. "And while they still don’t have great love for Clinton, it looks like they’ve decided to vote for her."

As David Burstein, the 28-year-old founder of Run for America, an organization that uses social media and data science to recruit and support leaders' bids for office, puts it: "The choice has never been more clear, but it's also never been more disappointing."

[Axl Rose]