Hillary Clinton told a crowd of enthusiastic supporters in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday that turnout for the 2016 election may be record-setting, and she said increases in early voting numbers support this prediction.
“I believe that we may have a record-setting turnout this election. Some folks who follow this are saying we could have the biggest turnout we’ve ever had,” Clinton said at a campaign rally that included her normal pitch to millennial voters. “Now, that kind of makes sense, because we could not have two more different visions about where we want our country to go in the future and who we are fighting for.”
“I believe what our founders established for us,” she continued, “the best way to reaffirm our commitment to that fundamental bedrock American value is to show up and vote, and demonstrate the importance of your vote.”
The Pew Research Center reported in August that the Millennial and Generation X generations are poised to overthrow Boomers as the dominant voting bloc in U.S. elections.
“We won’t know until after November if Boomers and their elders will pass the torch to Gen X and Millennials as a share of voters, but all the available data suggest that the 2016 election will mark the beginning of a new era for U.S. presidential elections,” Pew stated.
On Tuesday, Clinton predicted younger voters and minorities will smash records in the 2016 election.
“[E]arly information is actually quite encouraging,” she said. “We’re seeing spikes in early voting. And we’re seeing voting rates among African-Americans, Latinos, and young people going up.”
“For the first time, the estimate is that young people could represent 25 percent of the vote. Now, I would love to see that,” she added. “Now, I would love to see that. Obviously, I hope people vote for me. Because every election is about the future.”
Clinton’s remarks Tuesday come as her campaign team makes increasingly bold predictions regarding the state of the race. Last week, for example, the Democratic nominee’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told voters in Texas that their efforts to turn the Lone Star State blue would not go unrewarded.
“We take Texas very seriously, Hillary and I do,” Kaine said at a campaign stop in Houston. “We look at what you’re doing … And we are very, very proud of what you’re doing. We can see the spirit, we can see the energy, we can a see a state that has been a red state moving in the best direction.”
“There’s going to be a day when it’s going to start to move statewide and then it’s going to move very fast in your direction. And that’s because of the great work you’re doing.”
The last time a Democrat running for president won Texas was in 1976 when the state voted for Jimmy Carter. A Democrat hasn’t occupied the governor’s mansion in Texas since 1995, when Ann Richards left office after losing to George W. Bush.
The last Democrat to run for governor in Texas, former state senator Wendy Davis, lost to her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, by more than 20 points.
However, despite these recent losses, Kaine predicted last week that Texas is due for a political shift.
“You’re going to see the same thing happen in Texas that we saw in Virginia,” Kaine said, referring to the Old Dominion shifting in recent years from red to blue.
