Sanders to try to rally young voter for Clinton

[ckf]

On stump for Clinton, Sanders will try to rally young voters

Sep. 16, 2016, 3:52 pm by Jasper Craven Leave a Comment

 

Bernie Sanders appears with Hillary Clinton to endorse her presidential candidacy in July in Portsmouth, N.H. File photo by Jasper Craven/VTDigger

As national presidential polls tighten, the army of young voters who boosted Bernie Sanders throughout the primaries remains skeptical of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.

In response, the former secretary of state is calling on Sanders to rally his troops — a voting bloc now seen as potentially crucial in ensuring the White House remains in Democratic hands.

More than 2 million young people voted for the Vermont senator throughout the primaries, while Clinton and Republican Donald Trump netted a combined total of 1.6 million votes from millennials. While Sanders has endorsed Clinton and excoriated Trump as a bigot, a significant bloc of his supporters has yet to coalesce around her candidacy, polls suggest.

Instead, many are flocking to the third party candidacies of Gary Johnson, a Libertarian, and Jill Stein of the Green Party. A recent New York Times poll showed that 26 percent of voters under 30 said they planned to vote for Johnson while 10 percent said they sided with Stein.

In an interview Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Sanders acknowledged that he has long been a third party candidate, and had no negative words for Johnson or Stein. But he urged his supporters to realize the stakes of the election.

“Before you cast a protest vote — because either Clinton or Trump will become president — think hard about it,” he said. “This is not a governor’s race. This is not a state legislative race. This is the presidency of the United States.”

“Let us elect Hillary Clinton as president,” Sanders added, “and the day after, let us mobilize millions of people around the progressive agenda.”

While Clinton is outperforming Trump among 18- to 35-year-olds, her margins are not nearly as strong as those of Barack Obama in past elections, according to the polling news site FiveThirtyEight.

As the race enters its final weeks, Team Clinton is strategizing on how best to win millennials, and Sanders is emerging as one of the campaign’s best weapons.

His first campaign appearance on Clinton’s behalf came on Labor Day, when he crisscrossed New Hampshire to urge his supporters to embrace his former opponent.

Sanders won the Granite State by 20 points and will likely be Clinton’s most effective surrogate there. Recent polls suggest Trump, who also won New Hampshire in the primaries, is within striking distance of Clinton there.

Over the weekend, Sanders will head west and is scheduled to speak in Ohio, a battleground state where Clinton appears to be losing ground. While the Vermont senator didn’t win the Buckeye State, a CNN exit poll at the time reported him picking up 81 percent of the youth vote.

Sanders’ stump schedule will include a speech at the University of Akron, as well as stops in Akron, Kent and Canton. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is also scheduled to give speeches in Ohio for Clinton this weekend.

A Clinton press release regarding the trip says “Sanders will emphasize Clinton’s plans to support millennials, including making free community college and debt-free college available to all Americans, protecting access to health care for young Americans, (and) reforming our immigration system.”

So far, Sanders’ pitch to his supporters has had less to do with Clinton’s merits than with Trump’s shortcomings. Sanders made this appeal in an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Thursday.

“Even if you have concerns about Clinton — you don’t like this aspect — I understand that,” Sanders said. “But look at the hard issues that impact your lives and your neighbors’ lives and then think whether or not you want Donald Trump to become president. I think if you frame it in that way, people will end up voting for Clinton.”

Besides Sanders’ efforts, Clinton is scheduled to deliver a speech in Philadelphia on Monday aimed at responding to the concerns of millennials. A big selling point will likely be her updated college plan, which includes key ideas Sanders pushed during the primaries.

In addition, The New York Times reported that the Clinton campaign is courting Al Gore to speak on the dangers of third party voting. In the 2000 general election, many blamed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for spoiling Gore’s candidacy. Nader received roughly 90,000 votes in the key state of Florida, and George W. Bush officially won the state by 537 votes.

“I can assure you from personal experience that every vote counts,” said Gore, who until now has been largely silent this election. “The stakes are high for so many Americans. So I will vote for Hillary Clinton, and I strongly encourage others to vote for her as well.”

[Jimmy Snacks]

Fucking sell out.

[f7ben]

He's a sellout POS that obviously never meant a word he said

[Capt.Storm]

it's all politics!

[Rod]

And then tomorrow he will be speaking against everything that she is again

[Edmo]

Good luck with that. Because of his sell out, the youth have tuned out. He's just another old crusty politician now. Fuck him.

[hwytohell]

Sen. Sanders had a good deal of people standing with him, but at the end of the day he pitched any credibility he had an earned ,into the political sewer. He was able to purchase another nice home , plus rumors of a cash + legal smooth over of his wife's troubles as the head of the now closed college. More funny money dnc / clintoon's / alt - left, wall street, bankster donors.

Edited September 17, 2016 by hwytohell