Page 5 - ATODAY

U.S. NEWS A5
Friday 4 March 2016

Clinton now facing struggle American schools find presidential campaign
to win back younger voters language conflicting with no-bullies message

NICHOLAS RICCARDI C. THOMPSON students “can’t believe said. “Would you welcome
Associated Press Associated Press nobody calls him on the that?”
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Standing in a line of thou- BUFFALO, New York (AP) carpet the way that they In the battle for the Demo-
sands outside an arena at Colorado State University, — Ryan Lysek rose to be- would be called on the cratic presidential nomina-
Aleksandr Cronk contemplated the grim possibility come vice president of carpet if they said those tion, Hillary Clinton and Ber-
that the man he was waiting to see, Bernie Sanders, his fifth-grade class at Lor- things.” nie Sanders have focused
may not make it to the November ballot and he’d raine Academy in Buffalo, There’s Donald Trump call- more on policy than on
have to decide whether to vote for Hillary Clinton. New York, after the sitting ing Ted Cruz a “loser” and each other. The Republi-
Like millions of young voters nationwide, Cronk has vice president was oust- a “liar” and singling out can race is a different story.
been electrified by Sanders’ longshot bid for the Dem- ed for saying things that Muslims and Mexicans for “If students are following
ocratic presidential nomination. Even as Clinton has went against the school’s criticism. And there’s Mar- this election — and they
racked up a commanding lead in the contest, she’s anti-bullying rules. So the co Rubio mocking Trump’s should be — we have a lot
overwhelmingly losing voters between ages 18 and 29 10-year-old is a little puzzled “worst spray tan in Ameri- of re-educating to do,” Buf-
in early-voting states. Her lukewarm reception among
people like Cronk points to a challenge for her in No- In this Feb. 29, 2016 photo, teacher Kelly Gasior, left, and students, from left, Olivia Mashtaire, Ryan
vember, should she win the nomination. Overwhelm- Lysek, Christian Vazquez and Tyler Lysek stand with a statue of a Buffalo that’s been emblazoned
ing support from young voters twice helped secure with anti-bullying messages outside Lorraine Academy, Public School No. 72, in Buffalo, N.Y. Edu-
the White House for Barack Obama. cators in Buffalo and elsewhere worry the name-calling, mocking and social media attacks that
“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of change” if have gotten applause in the presidential campaign could undermine schools’ bullying preven-
Clinton wins, said Cronk, 21. Like many younger voters tion policies that call for kindness and respect.
he’s especially alarmed by income inequality, the is-
sue that Sanders has made a centerpiece of his cam- (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson)
paign. “The Clintons don’t really stand in that position
very well.” that candidates running to ca” and calling him a “con falo school administrator
Clinton’s weakness with younger voters has stood out lead the entire country can artist.” Will Keresztes said. Much of
consistently this year — she lost Democratic primary get away with name-call- Cruz says nearly every day the rhetoric would violate
voters who are aged 18 to 29 by 70 points in Iowa, 68 ing and foul language. on the campaign trail, “I not only the district’s code
points in New Hampshire and 25 points on Super Tues- The nasty personal tweets don’t respond to insults” of conduct, he said, but
day, when she won seven of the 11 states in play for and sound bites of the 2016 and he has been careful the state’s Dignity for All
Democrats. Republican presidential not to engage when Trump Students Act.
“Hillary’s weakness with millennials has to be very wor- campaign are reverberat- and others call him names. This is not the first campaign
risome for the Democratic Party,” said Simon Rosen- ing in classrooms, running But during the Jan. 28 Re- to get ugly, but educators,
berg, president of the New Democrat Network, a cen- counter to the anti-bullying publican debate which parents and students say
ter-left advocacy group. “What you’re seeing is the policies that have emerged Trump didn’t attend, it this one is particularly chal-
millennial generation has essentially seceded from the in recent years amid sever- was Cruz who made some lenging because often
Democratic establishment.” al high-profile suicides. quasi-insults he said Trump the biggest applause lines
Obama’s presidential campaigns showed the power For teacher David Aren- would have lobbed: “Let and headline-grabbers fly
of voters under 30, who gave him 2-1 support in both stam’s high school class me say I’m a maniac and in the face of appeals for
2008 and 2012. In 2016, even more millennials than in Saco, Maine, the cam- everyone on this stage is students be respectful and
Baby Boomers are eligible to vote, and they make up paign has been one long stupid, fat and ugly,” Cruz kind.
a large share of potential voters in battleground states civics lesson: “Can you re- said, snickering that he was Pickerington, Ohio, school
such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Iowa, demographers ally ban a whole group of getting “the Donald Trump counselor Kris Owen said
say. people from coming into portion out of the way.” students should be remind-
For months Clinton tried to connect with younger vot- the country?” the students On Thursday, Mitt Romney, ed that potential colleges
ers through famous supporters such as singer Katy Per- will ask, or “What’s the KKK the 2012 Republican presi- and employers won’t find
ry and actor Lena Dunham. She embraced the anti- (the white supremacist Ku dential nominee, jumped a Twitter feed full of insults
police-brutality movement Black Lives Matter, spear- Klux Klan), and do they still into the fray, branding as amusing as some have
headed by young African-Americans, and vowed really exist?” Trump “a phony, a fraud.” found the candidates’.
to expand President Obama’s deportation relief for But mostly, Arenstam said, “Imagine your children and She suggested using the
young people in the country illegally and their fami- when it comes to Re- your grandchildren acting comments as conversation
lies. She promised debt-free college for all, only to be publican Donald Trump, the way he does,” Romney starters. q
one-upped by Sanders’ pledge of free college for all.
Clinton has acknowledged she’s fallen short, saying
she has to work harder to convince young people she
will help them. When an Iowa college student asked
her in January why so many other youths found her
dishonest, Clinton blamed decades of Republican at-
tacks.
“I have been around a long time and people have
thrown all kinds of things at me and I can’t keep up
with it,” replied Clinton. “If you are new to politics and
it’s the first time you’ve really paid attention, you go,
‘Oh my gosh, look at all of this.’”
Joelle Gamble of the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal
New York think-tank, said young voters are increas-
ingly distrustful of institutions like political parties. She
noted that, on the Republican side, many have rallied
around Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who boasts of how hated
he is by Washington Republicans.q