With a platform that champions the elimination of student debt,
Bernie Sanders is no doubt the unofficial candidate for the average college
student. Not only is Bernie the most popular
choice among Democratic college students, but they are also his campaign’s
primary mobilizers.
Among the first questions
on a volunteer sign-up form for the campaign site is “Are you a student?,” and
a page dedicated to
volunteer engagement has an option specifically for campus mobilizing. When you
look at the page dedicated to Bernie’s political stances, one of the top
platforms is “College for
All.” For such a candidate who could become the oldest
President ever elected to a first term, Bernie has no trouble appealing to
a young crowd.
Bernie’s campaign
is ever-proud of its 100% “grassroots” fundraising and engagement, and from the
look of the campaign website, this pride is well-founded. Though his claim of a
100% grassroots-funded campaign may be misleading,
Bernie employs more grassroots engagement methods than other candidates. The
campaign’s options for volunteering are almost all interpersonal, even down to
the framing of these options.
Instead of saying
“download our official campaign app,” the campaign site says to “Organize your friends: Persuade
your friends, family, and neighbors to join our movement using the official
Bernie 2020 app.” Other opportunities for engagement are making phone calls—which
the campaign calls “phonebanks”—and hosting campaign events, knocking on doors,
sending texts, and campus mobilizing.
What’s unique
about Bernie’s campaign is its combination of reaching young voters and
promoting traditional forms of volunteer engagement. Canvassing, making phone
calls, organizing events, participating in protests, joining local associations,
and word-of-mouth lobbying are all pretty traditional forms of advocacy for
such a young target audience. On the page for volunteer engagement, there’s no
mention of Instagram, Twitter, or other mediums college students are most likely
to use. Social media and predominately digital tactics do not seem to be the
priority for Bernie’s campaign, but rather creating strong ties which not only
mobilize students, but also create long-term loyalty.
There are a
couple of theories that could explain this unorthodox use of traditional
engagement to mobilize college students. Since I am only looking at the campaign
website, it’s possible there are other platforms using digital engagement, like
social media. An Instagram feed, which offers limited but more widespread ways
to engage—such as resharing a campaign post—may be used to direct students to
the campaign website, where stronger ties can then be established. If someone
is going straight to the campaign website, it’s likely that they’re looking
actively for those ways to engage with the campaign, more than a student idly
scrolling through Instagram.
Alternatively,
this use of traditional engagement could be interpreted as a weakness in Bernie’s
campaign website. Is he missing out by not pushing more digital engagement to
his student supporters?
In either case,
Bernie’s frame of grassroots mobilization has the goal of making people feel
valued and engaged. The campaign slogan, “Not me. Us.” projects an image
of collaboration with the “common man.” The language of “we”, along with encouraging
potential volunteers to join with “thousands” of Bernie supporters, motivates people
to join a large community that needs you.
Based on the following of supporter-led websites such as Feel the Bern and Bernie Sanders
Grassroots Family, it’s clear these communities are following that same
grassroots mission with success. While these traditional forms of engagement don’t
guarantee room for creativity, Bernie’s nurturing of grassroots groups helps local
teams utilize resources in creative ways. Grassroots group websites post their
own local updates and are credible, well-attended, and accessible in ways that
an official campaign site can’t always assure.
While “grassroots” approaches are somewhat of a “gold standard”
and difficult to actually accomplish, Bernie’s campaign gets closer than most.
His campaign’s website pushes traditional engagement and tries to help foster communities
of voters—especially students—around a shared cause. His campaign website shows
us that while grassroots tactics are almost impossible to adhere to perfectly,
they can still be used well to get honest support.
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