The 2016 presidential candidates have access to the most diverse and, arguably, open- minded generation in history. So, why aren't these power-driven politicians utilizing the "Millennials" and their votes? Perhaps, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton haven't realized that this generation is the largest in American history, or maybe they just don't care about the political opinions of "some kids." But either way, the youngest generation of voters definitely has a voice of its own.
“Millennials” is the term given to people born in-between the years 1980-2000, the first generation in the new millennium. Millennials are the first generation exposed to social media and use it to express individual thoughts and ideas in a public forum of either friends or followers. Because social media allows for a constant stream of sharing ideas, other generations sometimes view Millennials as “self-obsessed” and refer to us as the “selfie generation.” The truth is, the younger generation is becoming more aware of themselves and issues involving others. Social media is a gateway into a lifetime of self-expression and voicing your opinion. For this reason, the Millennials are taking over the 2016 election. Instead of just casting a vote, the world’s largest generation is campaigning online, to millions of people.
The State of the Union Address and presidential debates don't trend on Twitter by accident. High school and college students are sharing their views through blogs, tweets, and numerous other online platforms.
Many utilize apps, such as Twitter and Instagram, as a platform to showcase their political ideas. Often, young voters feel they cannot present their opinions to an older generation without being disregarded as "uninformed" or "too young to understand." In reality, the Millennials have been becoming more informed and politically educated due to the constant flow and trading of ideas allowed by social media. Not only are political ideas shared, civil political discussion online is encouraged and widespread. If enough people share similar ideas, hashtags and online movements are formed. These movements often aim to inform others about certain topics and/or issues that haven’t been solved or spoken about enough (i.e. feminism). Hashtags aren't just trendy words that happen to catch on, they are often social movements that spread far beyond the bounds of Twitter and Instagram.
So why aren’t the president-wannabes all over social media? They are, but not in the way we desired. Millennials aren’t responding positively to @realDonaldTrump and @HillaryClinton online because the candidates seem aren’t addressing their issues in the public forum allowed by social media. The two presidential nominees bicker online and perform actions that seem too childish to be real. Tweets like Hillary Clinton’s “Delete your account.” to Donald Trump shows the pettiness between the candidates. Also, back in the days when Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate, Donald Trump bought the domain JebBush.com and redirected it to DonaldJTrump.com. The candidates think that by bashing each other online, they are gaining support from the younger generation. Instead, the Millennials are growing impatient waiting for important issues to be addressed online in an open discussion. But, Trump and Clinton refuse to use social media as a forum to interact with voters, only exploiting each other instead of the issues.
So if the candidates aren’t addressing the Millennials’ and their concerns online, they must be doing it in speeches and interviews, right? Not exactly, while the candidates do address the younger generation, it is in a trying-to-be-hip-but-not-pulling-it-off type of way. For example, when Hillary Clinton was on “Ellen”, she hit the whip and nae nae. While this is funny to watch, it was perceived as pandering and tacky by the younger generation. We are expecting to vote for the candidate that best represents our ideals, not our dance moves.
So why aren’t the candidates focused more on winning the vote of the largest generation in history? In the past, people in-between the ages of 18-29 had a 20-40 percent turnout. Basically, less than half of past younger voters participated in elections. The reason that so many young, eligible voters didn’t go out and vote was the widespread attitude that their votes didn’t matter. Therefore, the 2016 presidential candidates don’t think they need to persuade the younger generation, as they think we won’t vote. Now, with the use of social media and sense of political activism it is predicted that the voter turnout of the Millennials will be over 50 percent. Ignoring our generation could be fatal for either of the candidates.
As November 8th draws closer, the presidential election seems to be the topic of conversation. Will the candidates find the time to address Millennials and swing their votes? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure; the younger generation is not to be overlooked. This election will be historic for many reasons; the Millennials will make sure of it.
