Clinton finds young women vote is elusive
New generation stresses new priorities
MANCHESTER, N.H. — It was not so long ago that Hillary Clinton was relishing her status as an icon among young feminists, who cheered her resilience to political attack, her use of her stardom to advance the cause of women world wide, even her signature pantsuits.
But now, when Clinton needs that support the most, much of her backing among women of the millennial generation has vanished.
Locked in an increasingly tense battle for the Democratic nomination, Clinton has aggressively reached out to young women with the promise of breaking a glass ceiling that the women’s movement has worked for decades to shatter. The newest generation of feminists is responding with a shrug.
The persona cultivated by Clinton’s campaign — that of an exciting, trailblazing big sister with a “Girl Power” playlist of songs at the ready — isn’t sticking. Young women voters seem more likely to see in Clinton an overcautious mother.
In Iowa this week, women 29 and younger voted for Clinton’s challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders, by a margin of roughly 6-1, much as young men did, according to a poll of voters arriving at precinct caucuses conducted for the television networks and the Associated Press. In advance of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, polls have shown Sanders holding the support of a majority of young women here as well — a sharp contrast to Clinton’s dominance among women closer to her own age.
The problem is not rejection of feminism — surveys suggest millennial women are the most staunchly feminist group of voters in America. They want to see a womanin the White House. Just not necessarily this woman.
“I am excited for a future in which we will have a female president, but I don’t think Hillary is that person for this generation,” said Rachael Jennings, 28, a high school teacher in Dublin, N.H.
These progressive voters instead see as their champion a man — a 74-year-old socialist, at that. Sanders is all the rage for now.
Longtime feminist leaders have dived into the campaign to try to turn the tide— so far, to little effect.
“I will be honest. We are engaging sooner than we expected,” said Eleanor Smeal, who runs the Feminist Majority, which days before the Iowa caucuses put resources into Iowa to try to boost Clinton’s chances. NARAL Pro Choice America, a leading abortion-rights organization, has made tens of thousands of phone calls and trips to the doorsteps of voters in early primary states on Clinton’s behalf.
Still, Clinton finds herself caught up in the crossgenerational friction between amovement tantalizingly close to achieving a long-elusive goal and newer-wave feminists whose experience with the gender gap differs fromthat of their mothers and grandmothers. For young Democrats, getting a woman in the Oval Office has not ranked as high on the priority list as putting Wall Street or giant health insurance companies in their place.
Young voters are by their nature uncomfortable with the status quo, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and Clinton has difficulty convincing them that she is the change agent in the race.
“I’m a student, I will have to pay for college and debt is something that scares me,” Meg Renzelman, 18, said after a Sanders rally in Keene, N.H. The Sanders plan for free public college tuition is a big draw to her.
“There is this assumption that if you are awoman, you should support Hillary Clinton because she is a woman,” Renzelman said. “But I feel like Bernie is going to support women in the sameway.”
The pervasiveness of that view has touched off a backlash among other young feminists who are excited about Clinton, including a recent profanity laced, all-caps posting that drew thousands of comments to the millennial focused website Pajiba.
The writer, Courtney Enlow, infuriated by her generation’s abandonment of Clinton, suggested that Clinton was being held toan unreasonable double standard. Sanders is allowed to loudly denounce what he describes as corporate malfeasance, while she needs to avoid sounding angry, Enlow wrote.
Clinton has put considerable effort into making a feminist pitch to young women voters.
Still, in New Hampshire thisweek, Clinton acknowledged her message is not breaking through with young voters and that she needs to recalibrate it.
If Clinton eventually prevails, the excitement Sanders has generated could ultimately work in her favor. He is drawing to the polls large numbers of young feminists who might otherwise not have voted.