Will Johnson make a di≠erence?

Democrat Clinton is struggling to win over the young voters she needs.

boulder» John Morales was interning for Bernie Sanders’ campaign when the longshot Democratic candidate’s hopes started to fade in the spring. That’s when Libertarian Gary Johnson caught his interest.

In many ways Johnson and Sanders are ideological opposites. The Vermont senator is an opponent of foreign trade deals and won over many younger voters in the primaries by calling for enormous government spending to guarantee universal health care and free college tuition. Johnson, the former New Mexico governor, supports smaller government and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But he shares Sanders’ outsider, tell-it-like-it-is style, social liberalism and skepticism about military intervention overseas — attributes that have won over enough Sanders supporters to worry Democrats he could jeopardize Hillary Clinton’s chances in November.

Morales, a 22-year-old community college student and Army Reservist, is one of those converts — he’s now interning for Johnson.

“He agrees with about 70 percent of what Bernie was saying,” Morales said, adding that many of his friends who liked Sanders now are also drawn to Johnson. “I do believe that he’s got better ideas than Hillary and Trump,” Morales says.

With roughly a month until Election Day, Clinton is still struggling to win over young voters who twice helped elect Barack Obama.

“They’re not brand-loyal to either party — they’re loyal to ideology and disruption of the status quo,” said Jill Hanauer, a Denverbased Democratic strategist whose firm has polled the age group known as millennials. She said many don’t remember how protest votes for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader helped elect George W. Bush in 2000. Clinton’s challenge with younger voters is part of what’s keeping the race close.