ACTIVIST DEVOTES MILLIONS TOWARD MILLENNIALS

Big donor to Dems says the USA’s largest group has more in common with Clinton than they may realize

Seven weeks before Election Day, Democratic megadonor and environmental activist Tom Steyer is trying to convince Millennials not just to support Hillary Clinton but also to show up to vote.

Steyer, who has contributed nearly $ 40 million to liberal groups during this campaign cycle, said Tuesday that he is chipping in $ 15 million to For Our Future, a joint effort among four labor unions and a super PAC he founded called Next Gen Climate. The money will go to a campaign that aims to knock on 2 million doors in seven swing states, encouraging “sporadic” voters to get to the polls. That raises his total contribution to the group this year to $ 20 million.

“To a large extent, it’s not how you’re going to vote but whether you’re going to vote,” Steyer told Capital Download, calling voter participation among Millennials a key to the outcome in November. “This is the biggest group of people in the United States of America, and they overwhelmingly support, in theory, Secretary Clinton. If they do turn out, that’s an absolutely overwhelming fact. If they don’t turn out, that’s a very troubling fact.”

Voters younger than 35 were a crucial part of the coalition that elected Barack Obama to the White House. They overwhelmingly supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, and Clinton struggles to generate enthusiasm among the nation’s largest generation.

In a speech to a youthful audience at Temple University in Philadelphia on Monday, she portrayed herself as an idealistic fighter for children and warned that Donald Trump didn’t share their values.

The Democratic campaign is deploying Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Obama himself to state her case with younger voters.

In a poll sponsored by Next Gen Climate of 1,652 Millennial voters in 11 battleground states last month, 16% said they would have supported Sanders against Trump but refused to back Clinton. “When you fall in love with a candidate — and a lot of Millennials fell in love with Sen. Sanders — it’s hard to give up your love,” Steyer said, noting that the percentage of Sanders’ holdouts declined from 21% in a survey in July. He attributed that to an increased understanding of policy differences between Clinton and Trump.

“As they learn the facts, they are losing their deep affiliation with Sen. Sanders and realizing that Secretary Clinton is in fact a very good alternative for them,” Steyer said. “I think that Mrs. Clinton needs to talk about the issues that they care about, and I think that she is aligned with them much more than Millennials know.”

JACK GRUBER, USA TODAY Tom Steyer has donated millions of dollars to liberal groups, including a super PAC he founded, Next Gen Climate.