A new poll from purple state Virginia has shown that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson has snagged millennial voters from Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and GOP candidate Donald Trump.
Hillary leads the state in a contest with Trump 52-30, but when you add Johnson her favorability with millennials falls to 34% while Johnson takes 27% and Trump plummets to 23%.
What does this mean for the Libertarian Party? Does this show that Hillary needs to concentrate more on millennials?
A survey from the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University (CNU) released these results on Monday, the day of the first presidential debate. The center wrote:
Millennial voters are even less enthusiastic about this election, with only 32% indicating they were either very or somewhat enthusiastic. This mirrors findings from other recent surveys and could indicate problems for the Clinton campaign, which hopes to harness the voting power of the Obama Coalition. Republicans have a slight edge over Democrats in terms of enthusiasm.
But this enthusiasm expands beyond Virginia. A Quinnipiac University poll from September 14 showed Clinton polling over Trump, 41 – 39. Johnson only took 13%, but a look at the data by age group painted a different picture:
Get this, the numbers for voters ages 18 to 34: Clinton 31 percent, Johnson 29 percent, Trump 26 percent, [Green Party candidate Jill] Stein 15 percent.That is astounding.According to this poll, 44 percent of the Millennial voters would cast ballots for candidates who, quite frankly, have absolutely no chance whatsoever of becoming the 45th president of the United States. And one, Johnson, is in second place!
Almost 2,000 students at Purdue University attended Johnson’s rally on September 14. Why is he winning with millennials? The answer is simple:
Johnson told News 18, most millennials are craving less government and want more social change. He said he reflects what most millennials believe in, which is making many convert to the Libertarian vote.“I think most millennials recognize that choice in life, freedom and liberty,” Johnson said. “I should be able to decide anything in my life that I want as long as I don’t harm others.”
Many millennials wanted Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as the Democrat candidate. A fair number of the diehard Bernie supports have not walked over to Hillary’s camp. Instead, they have gravitated towards the third party candidates, Johnson and Stein.
Millennials are not budging:
“It’s not OK to try to win the country through fear tactics,” said Erin Young, 32, a gift shop manager from Mosca, Colo., who now supports Johnson. “I can’t just vote for one because they scare me slightly less than the other. I’d rather vote for someone that I have confidence for and respect.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY