Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA2.0
Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0
Each Democratic presidential candidate this year has become known as much for the demographics of their supporters as for all else. Bernie's Millennials and Hillary's Boomers+. The age divide among these 2015-2016 voters has created a party split as unique as the election itself. Sanders’s so-called revolution wowed millennials repeatedly in each primary race. Hillary impressively provided strength for those over 45 years old, and even more to those over 65. Now that Bernie Sanders has formally endorsed Hillary Clinton, his supporters and her supporters need to go about the co-mingling process passionately and quickly if they want to win.
We're not talking about an automatic flick of the loyalty switch, but a grounded desire for an election victory. It requires a thought adjustment by both groups. In the 2008 presidential election, 61% of Democrats over the age of 45 voted. But young voters have not shown the same strength of turnout on election day, when it can be critical. Given the size of the millennial demographic, a key question is whether this year's group will break rank with their previous voter pattern, and come out in the large numbers they’ve shown during the primary races.
While each campaign has to work through the unification process, national events can change the dialogue in a minute, and that’s happening now. Born out of the horrifying tragedies of the last few weeks, the shooting deaths of black men by white police officers and white police officers by a black man, the issue of race has yet again reared its ugly head.
The millennial generation didn’t live through the racial turmoil of the 60's, but they are seeing its next generation now. The Democratic party has a strong history of fighting for civil rights. They once again have a major opportunity to take a leadership role in working to change the racial dialogue in our country.
Both Sanders and Clinton supporters have the power to come together and work on the unfinished business of eliminating social injustice. It will not only take a truly motivated president, but a passionate and committed group of supporters to build a solid base upon which racism can become history and stay there.