Bernie Sanders Uses Unconventional Way to Reach Millennials
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is getting to millennial voters in a way that's unique and totally relatable -- Snapchat.
Just almost a week away from the Iowa caucus, Sanders is hitting young voters with a nine-day Snapchat campaign that asks them, "Are you ready to feel the Bern?"
According to Business Insider, the social media campaign is specifically for young voters in Iowa, which means that only people from the state can apply the filter to their video and picture messages.
Since the attention span of a millennial can be compared to that of a gold fish, reports said that there will actually be different, time-relevant filter every day to keep the Sanders' Snapchat campaign fresh and always enticing to young kids.
According to Sanders' digital director Kenneth Pennington, "We're leveraging Snapchat to help us turn out young caucusgoers in Iowa who know Sen. Sanders is the best candidate to make college affordable, fight climate change and take on a corrupt political system," Mashable reported.
Apparently, this strategy is unique to Sanders' campaign because no other politician has employed the use of Snapchat, other than Bernie that is, in their respective campaigns.
But reports said that this is not the first time the Vermont senator had a brush in with the social media app. Back in November, Sanders quipped that he does not get its concept and is wondering why he's only allowed to see photos for 10 seconds -- max.
This move from the Sanders campaign was seen as logical, as the self-proclaimed socialist-democrat is a big hit among millennial voters.
In a report by CNN, many political experts see the young voters as the key to Sanders beating Hillary in the primary elections. The support from the youth comes a bit ironic since Sanders himself admitted that he's not the "hippest guy around."
The unlikely support from young voters may stem from his very strong policies that seem to target the youth. One of his well-known promises if he becomes president is his aim to make education completely free and maybe even reduce student debts.
Apart from that, young voters also see Sanders as the most sincere of all the presidential candidates. Kailey Gray, a 20-year-old student volunteer in the Sanders campaign said that, "A lot of young people are turned off by politicians because they don't exactly tell the truth all the time and flip flop around the issues."
When asked if he thinks his strong youth support would translate to votes, Sanders answered that he has little doubt because he believes that young people are known for their idealism and added that they see something is wrong in this country and they are willing to do something about it.
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