Her attempt to woo millennials has been pretty rough sailing so far. Take when Clinton asked people on Twitter to express how their student debt made them feel in three emojis or less, or when her campaign made a BuzzFeed-like explainer of Republican politics through mostly unrelated Star Wars gifs.
The “trying to be hip” strategy both reinforces the idea that Clinton is a pandering robot and trivializes young voters—as if millennials won’t be able to digest their politics unless it is sugarcoated with emojis. However, it seems that the campaign is finally catching on, according to Politico:
But even as Clinton’s hipness comes under question, her aides say she’ll embrace her age—68, which is actually two years younger than Trump—and inner policy wonk. “She doesn’t need to be cool. She just needs to be who she is,” said Sarah Audelo, the Clinton campaign’s youth vote director. “That’s what young people are interested in. Young people want authenticity.”
As Elspeth Reeve has noted, Clinton is the most likeable when she lets her inner nerd shine. Fortunately, Clinton’s strategists are embracing what loving parents have been telling their nerdy children for centuries: Just be yourself.