Snapchat part of Sanders’ strategy
Candidate has an edge with younger voters
NEW YORK — Until this past week, Bernie Sanders’s digital strategy — to convert the enthusiastic and curious into volunteers and eventually voters — played out in Twitter posts straight from his long, policy-driven speeches and videos explaining income and wealth inequality.
Then he joined Snapchat, a company that claims to have an enviable share of America’s young likely voters in its audience, in a bet that the platform can help him further capitalize on his advantage with that demographic.
At first glance, the irascible Sanders seems like a strange fit for the platform, where users can send photos and short videos to their friends that later evaporate. “What is this Snapshot thing and why do I only get 10 seconds?” Sanders tweeted on Monday to announce his new account. He’s a late adopter: His Democratic rivals, Martin O’Malley and Hillary Clinton, have been on the platform for several weeks, as has every major Republican candidate except Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, and Rick Santorum.
But there is some data to indicate that, while 2016 might not be the Snapchat election, it is, at least, a natural fit for a candidate such as Sanders. Thirtyseven percent of the app’s 100 million daily users are 18- to 24-year-olds, according to the company. After the Aug. 6 Republican de- bate, Snapchat said 18- to 24-year-olds were more likely to watch the platform’s five-minute “live story” of the debate than watch the debate live on television. Two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-old Snapchat users are likely voters and about a third of all 18- to 34year- old likely voters use the app, according to an online poll commissioned by Snapchat and conducted by Global Strategy Group and Public Opinion Strategies from Oct. 15-25.
“Compared to other kinds of social media, Snapchat really gives a true behind-the-scenes look at campaigns and candidates, and those campaign and candidates who use Snapchat effectively have a different avenue to reaching these likely voters,” said Robert Blizzard, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies.
Sanders’s first Snapchat story featured scenes from a Cleveland rally, bookended by short statements from the candidate. His second featured aides filming a video to promote the upcoming rollout of his immigration plan.
In comparison, Clinton, who joined in early August, has been praised for her amusing account, which often features throwback photos or images mocking her Republican opponents.
Kenneth Pennington, the Sanders campaign’s digital director, said Sanders is “uniquely positioned” to turn out young voters due to his early popularity with them. A national McClatchy-Marist poll released Nov. 13 found that while Clinton beat Sanders 57 percent to 39 percent, Sanders led among 18- to 29-year-olds 58 percent to 35 percent; he had a similar advantage among 18- to 34-year-olds in the latest Bloomberg Politics national poll published this week.