Bernie Sanders: The Catalyst for Millennial Involvement in Politics
Bernie Sanders is a 75-year-old United States Senator who campaigned as a candidate for the United States presidency from April 2015 to the end of June 2016. Sanders is a Democratic Socialist who sided with the working class and the younger generation; mainly college-aged students. Bernie Sanders received his largest following from the younger generation, better known as the millennial generation. Bernie Sanders was the inspiration for millennials to join the world of politics and vote: before Sanders, millennials rarely participated in politics or voted.
Before 2016, millennials rarely turned out to vote and had little to no involvement in politics. Before the current race for President of the United States, millennials had little reason to be involved with politics or vote. Asma Khalid states that “In fact, millennials continue to have the lowest voter turnout of any age group. Only about 46 percent [of millennials] voted in the last presidential election…” Khalid also points out that another reason millennial voting was so low in the previous elections was because millennials were not of age to vote. Rachel Gossen says that “By 2016, 93 million millennials will be of voting age and 81 million will be eligible voters,
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Sanders has the same political views as millennials, targets and debates the issues that millennials care about, and is the best candidate to be the next president of the United States of America in millennials’ eyes. Because of Sanders, millennial voter turnout has increased by a large percentage and millennial involvement in politics has increased as well. Sanders is the politician that was the inspiration for millennials to get involved in politics. Bernie Sanders was the catalyst to change the millennial voter turnout from a small percentage to a large percentage; he brought millennials into