Dear politicos: Millennials are people, not a “target demographic”

Memes, targeted outreach, and gimmicks have failed to win the millennial vote, but campaigns haven’t realized that.

“Forgive me, politicos, but your target demographic can’t take it anymore,” Catherine Addington writes for The American Conservative.

From a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference and her thoughts, she offered six thoughts on how campaigns could become more substantive for millennials and gain their votes. It’ll require candidates, however, to treat them as individuals rather than one bloc obsessed with Snapchat.

“Prioritize principles over party, ideas over ideology,” she writes. Independence-minded millennials don’t respect calls for loyalty to an institution or person. Hillary Clinton has fallen victim to that oversight, as millennials have ignored her outreach for the Bernie Sanders campaign.

“Be a person, not a platform,” Addington writes. Donald Trump has been successful on that front, as his attitude and ability to connect with voters has overshadowed his almost-empty repertoire of ideas on how to make America great again.