Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and Hillary Clinton’s daughter Chelsea have become integral to reaching the cohort — roughly consisting of those now just old enough to vote through age 35.
As the oldest presidential matchup in U.S. history, Donald Trump, 70, and Hillary Clinton, who will turn 69 right before the election, are both relying heavily on daughters in their mid-30s to reach a crucial segment of the electorate: millennials.
Both campaigns see the cohort — roughly consisting of those now just old enough to vote through age 35 — as a key to winning the White House.It’s the group Chelsea Clinton tried to win over Thursday with her mother’s promises of affordable tuition and student debt relief during a campaign stop at Sinclair Community College.
“This is not a reality television show. There’s a lot at stake so we’re talking about higher education affordability and why we’re here at Sinclair today,” Clinton, 36, said. “(My mother) believes that anyone should be able to go to Sinclair or any community college tuition-free, regardless of family income.”
Under Hillary Clinton’s plan, community college would be free and for students in families making less than $125,000 — more than 89 percent of Ohio households — college would be tuition free at in-state public colleges and universities.
“I hope it will matter to people here in the room, to families across Ohio,” Chelsea Clinton said.
Hedaya Daoud said it was good news but probably too late for the 19-year-old to get free tuition at Sinclair even if Clinton prevails over Trump in November. Her father, a professor at the community college, is still paying off student loans, said Daoud who’s studying graphic arts.
“It’s a personal issue for all of us,” she said. “And I will definitely have to take some loans to get through.”
Student college debt in America is now more than $1.3 trillion and in Ohio about two-thirds of those who attend or graduate from college have student debt averaging $30,000.
Connor Fazzari, 18, from Germantown said he supported Bernie Sanders during the primary and followed him through a”political dance” before the Vermont senator endorsed Clinton.
“Bernie Sanders had that idea. That’s not a bad idea at all,” said Fazzarri. “I think there are too many people who are not going to college. That would be great for the whole country.”
Fazzari hasn’t made up his mind who will get his first presidential vote.
“I’m not going to vote for Trump, though. Can’t do that,” he said. “I’m thinking about Gary Johnson, the Libertarian,. But I’m not sure yet.”
Marc Czulewicz, a University of Dayton student, was among about dozen protesters outside the Sinclair Conference Center where Clinton spoke. The senior from Cincinnati said he will leave graduate with more than the average amount of debt run up by Ohioans who take out student loans.
“The price of college is high, it’s something Trump talks about, too. But free doesn’t get me success,” Czulewicz said. “I want a hand up, not a hand out. I’m not looking for something free.”
Kaille Phong, chapter president of the Sinclair Community College Students for Trump, said in a campaign release that talk of free tuition is empty talk if no good paying jobs are available for graduates.
“Students who want to know what a Clinton economy would look like for them should ask the thousands of unemployed college grads across the country working as baristas or at the mall who fell for this same pitch four and eight years ago,” Phong said.
Trump has largely been silent on the issue of college affordability, though he supports allowing private banks to issue student loans, a practice halted by the Obama administration in 2010.
Child-care, other issues
Chelsea Clinton, who may become the only first daughter to two presidents, appeared for about 40 minutes at the Women for Hillary Roundtable to discuss college affordability and issues surrounding parental leave, and child care – issues she said her mother grasps better than the Republican Trump.
The 36-year-old Clinton spent most of her 40 minutes on stage taking questions from the about 300 mainly supporters gathered and then opened the floor for questions. She parried answers to bring up her mother’s positions on women’s reproductive rights, equal pay for equal work to a child-care plan that Chelsea Clinton said says does more for American families than one released earlier this week by Donald Trump.
Trump released a plan on Tuesday that would give working parents a tax deduction on child care expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents. The plan also creates flexible Dependent Care Savings Accounts with certain tax benefits and calls for a guaranteed six weeks of maternity leave only for workers whose employers don’t offer the benefit.
The Trump campaign said the costs of the program will be offset by increases in economic growth due to better trade deals, tax reform and immigration overhauls under a Trump administration.
State Rep. Christina Hagan, R-Alliance, lauded Trump for offering a plan she said would help “break down barriers for mothers” and provide middle-class families tax relief.
“As a parent and policy maker I’m happy to finally see a serious proposal to help working mothers,” Hagan said after Trump unveiled policies – championed by his 34-year-old daughter Ivanka – in a speech outside Philadelphia.
Democrats argue that Trump’s child-care plans exclude those who need it most: low-income families that don’t owe income tax won’t see a benefit through new deductions.
The Clinton plan would cap child care costs at 10 percent of a family’s income with subsidies to pay for costs exceeding the cap. Clinton also calls for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave – for both mothers and fathers – to care for a new child or ill family member and up to 12 weeks of medical leave for a serious injury or illness to one’s self.
Clinton’s college and child-care plans would be funded by requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay more taxes.
Chelsea Clinton also touted her mother’s proposal for universal preschool.
“This is often framed as a women’s issue,” she said. “It’s really a family issue, an economic issue, and I would argue a moral issue for all of us.”
Chelsea Clinton gave birth in June to her second child, son Aidan. She and husband Marc Mezvinsky also have a daughter Charlotte, who turns two later this month on the day of the first presidential debate.
Polls showed Clinton ahead of Trump in Ohio after the conventions. Polling since shows preferences in the crucial swing state tightening and moving toward Trump.
A Bloomberg Politics poll taken between Friday and Monday — when Clinton was partially off the campaign trail and her “basket of deplorables” remark still fresh — showed Trump leading Clinton in Ohio, 48 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in a two-way race and 44 percent to 39 percent with third-party candidates included.
The Clinton campaign sees millennial outreach as crucial to picking up the ground lost in the Buckeye State, dispatching senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to Ohio for rallies Saturday on college campuses across the state.
“As a young voter, whatever the campaign, it feels good to be targeted,” said Czulewicz the Trump supporter. “It feels good to know my vote is important, especially this year in the great state of Ohio.”
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