If you’re a politics junkie like me, or even if you just listen to the news in passing, then you’ve probably heard a lot about this “millennial vote” everyone’s been talking about. Seriously, it’s like every single news story is asking the same question.

Which presidential candidate will win the millennial vote? What do the millennials think about all of the candidates? How do you win over the millennials?

But figuring it out isn’t nearly as difficult as people think. If you want to know what the Internet generation is thinking, follow the meme. For example, remember how much everyone loved Hillary Clinton back in 2013? It may be hard to believe now when everyone’s complaining about how calculating and untrustworthy she is, but its true. Stepping down from her role as Secretary of State, her approval rating was an unbelievable 69 percent and she’d just been voted the most popular politician in the country. Everyone loved Hillary Clinton.

And it wasn’t just big national polls and newspapers that loved Hillary, it was the millennials too. Don’t believe me? Check the meme. Two years since it’s inception and the Texts From Hillary meme was going strong, making sure we all knew how cool Hillary Clinton is.

How cool is 2013 Hillary Clinton? She’s so cool that she runs the world while the President and VP fangirl over Justin Bieber. She responds “who dis?” to a text from Jay Z and Beyonce. She casually makes brunch plans with Meryl Streep. She even puts Ryan Gosling in his place. 2013 Hillary Clinton is a boss. 2013 Hillary Clinton is too cool for all of the coolest icons 2013 has to offer.

Three years later, and the meme has changed. Hillary’s approval ratings are now at 41% and following a barrage of successful smear campaigns, she is often viewed as cold, calculating, and untrustworthy. And what do the millennials think? Ask the meme.

According to the now widespread “Bernie or Hillary” meme, Bernie Sanders is cool and in touch with pop culture, while Hillary Clinton is fake and trying too hard. Bernie has cool and thoughtful opinions on things that matter. Black Sabbath? Revolutionary. Harry Potter? He’s read every book. Olive Garden? Whenever he’s stoned (because he’s just that cool). Hillary on the other hand, doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t know the four Harry Potter houses, or who Kanye and 50 Cent are. Her opinion on Olive Garden is straight out of a TV advertisement, because she’s just that fake. In contrast to the cool and badass 2013 Hillary, 2016 Hillary is out of touch and just doesn’t get it.

And it’s not just Hillary Clinton's image that can be tracked by the meme. Anyone remember “Thanks Obama”? Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has been blamed for every little thing that goes wrong, whether or not its actually been within his control. Young liberals found this both infuriating and hilarious, and thus another meme was born.

Now the chances that Hillary and Bernie would actually say those things, or that anyone would actually blame Obama for a paper cut, are about the same as the chances that Hillary was actually texting Ryan Gosling. Nobody is under any illusion that the memes are hard cold fact, they're just funny expressions of the narratives we see. They’re a reflection of the story being played out around us.

And just so we’re clear, none of these are bad things. Memes are just one of many ways people choose to express themselves and the world as they see it. The problem comes in when people forget that these expressions don’t just reflect popular narratives, but reinforce them as well.

And I know what you’re all thinking, “I know they’re just jokes, they don’t affect me at all.” And to you I say, well, congratulations on being special butterfly, but you’re wrong. Nobody thinks they are subject to subtle messaging, maybe they admit that everyone else is, but they themselves definitely are not. That’s why advertisements work so well, you know logically that those outlandish candy commercials are just for fun and not real, but their underlying message, “buy the candy”, gets through without you even noticing. The same is true with memes.

In 2013, every time you saw that picture of Hillary texting like boss, the “Hillary is cool” narrative was reinforced in your head. Now, every time you see a comparison between Bernie and Hillary’s stance on m&ms, “Hillary is uncool, Bernie is a boss” is whispered into your ear.

So next time you have an opinion on a politician or celebrity, take it with a grain of salt. Take a step back and ask yourself why you hate this person or love that one. After all, our opinions are just as much a reflection of our collective narrative as they are objective facts.