“I wanted to prove I could build a successful digital outreach campaign and show the importance of social media grass roots in elections,” Carrol, 18, said.
The page now reaches as many as 1 million people a week, has collected 19,000 likes and has brought 1,000 donors to Buttigieg’s campaign through a customized fundraising link.
Reflecting the emphasis being put on young voters in the 2020 race, five Democratic presidential candidates are scheduled to answer questions from students and young voters in CNN town hall-style events at 7 p.m. Monday from Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
The Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 and a focus on young voters in the 2018 midterm elections has put increasing emphasis on them as an important demographic, particularly for Democrats. Nearly 60 percent of people 18 to 24 say they’re Democrats, while just a third say they’re Republicans, according to an analysis of Pew Research Center data over the last year.
But it remains to be seen whether young voters will turn out on a large scale. Even with the youthful support for Sanders in 2016, a study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that Sanders “did not inspire a surge in turnout from young Democrats.” Less than 20 percent of young voters turned out in primaries in Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire, according to exit polling by Edison Research.
Still, Democrats see enormous potential.
“Young voters are listed as low-propensity voters,” said Louis Elrod, president of the Young Democrats of America, the youth arm of the Democratic Party. He explained that because many young people don’t donate to campaigns, or don’t have a voting record yet, campaigns usually don’t take the time to talk to them like they would other voters. “You hear this bias all the time that young people are apathetic. We’re not apathetic.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.