Al Gore, the former vice president who brought the topic of global warming to the forefront around the world, will now be campaigning for Hillary Clinton as part of an effort to get more millennials to support the former secretary of state.
Bringing Gore, 68, to the campaign is seen as a move by the Clinton campaign to appeal to young voters for whom climate change is a key issue.
Gore, who served as Bill Clinton’s vice president and unsuccessfully ran for office against George W. Bush in 2000, is joining Clinton’s long list of high-profile surrogates, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Clinton has been struggling in the polls with millennials (aged between 18 and 34), getting 40 percent of the vote in the latest Bloomberg Politics national poll published Sept. 26. By comparison, Obama received 67 percent of the millennial vote in 2008 and 60 percent in 2012.
Another reason the former vice president could prove to be an asset to the Clinton campaign is his experience during the 2000 presidential race with third-party candidate Ralph Nader. Nader is often blamed for costing Gore the election against Bush.
In the current election, millennials, who tend to lean Democrat, are having trouble supporting the party’s candidate this time around and are instead supporting third-party candidates, especially Gary Johnson. The Libertarian candidate is currently polling at 11 percent with millennials.
