North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Anderson Clayton, 26, is the nation's youngest state party chairman and will be running the campaign for the oldest presidential candidate in history in a state that Democrats haven't won since 2008. Ta.
“It's going to be a battle,” Clayton said. “I don't think anyone really knows what's going to happen in November at this point.”
Clayton, who is often mistaken for a college student when out on the streets, believes his youth gave him an advantage when trying to enroll students at his alma mater, Appalachian State University.
”[Students] People respond best to people who look like them and talk to them about issues that are important to them,” Clayton said.
North Carolina becomes a battleground
Donald Trump won North Carolina twice, but in 2020 he won every state by a narrow margin. He defeated Joe Biden by 1.4 points, or about 75,000 votes.
Seeing a golden opportunity for Biden, his campaign launched a $25 million television ad campaign during the primary campaign in seven battleground states, including North Carolina, targeting general election voters in the Tar Heel State.
CBS Saturday Morning
Building a student union
Biden officials say Creighton will play a key role in reaching out to young voters.
“Everyone leading the canvass at North Carolina right now is young,” Creighton said. “It’s young people who are going out right now in North Carolina.
In March, Mr. Creighton joined Vice President Kamala Harris at the launch event for the Students for Biden coalition in Durham. They are helping train young North Carolinians in political organizing, and Creighton said the state party is developing a hiring pipeline for qualified students who can join campaigns after graduation.
“We want local North Carolina youth to organize this campaign this year because we fundamentally believe this is the path our state needs to go,” she said. said.
Tarak Duggal, a senior at Wake Forest University, was among the participants in the event.
“It's great to see campaigns taking us seriously and listening to us and understanding how important young people are as a voting bloc,” Dougal told CBS News. It's encouraging and helpful,” he told CBS News.
Appalachian State University is one of 16 institutions in the North Carolina University Network. The state is home to about a dozen historically black colleges and universities. The Biden campaign believes that many HBCUs provide the perfect infrastructure to support youth support strategies. The team plans to open his 11 field offices in North Carolina this cycle, with staffing focused on campus expansion within the state.
North Carolina Republicans have indicated they don't view the Biden campaign's efforts as much of a threat. A spokesperson told CBS News that the group has no plans to expand its operations, stressing that its current relationships with the RNC and Donald Trump are sufficient to win in November.
“We are paying local programs of staff and volunteers in every battleground state, including North Carolina, and our programs are growing every day,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement.
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Biden is losing support among young people
Young voter turnout is historically low, and Biden's support among young voters is shrinking.
In 2020, the North Carolina State Board of Elections reported that only 13% of registered voters were between the ages of 18 and 25, and 60% of them actually voted.
according to Recent CBS News PollYoung voters on the left told CBS News that their biggest concerns were Biden's age and his handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Jacob Cook, 18, a student at Appalachian State University, said, “Usually I don't really care, but right now they're both a little out of place, and it's like they're rotting away on stage when they're giving speeches.'' ” he said. “So that's a pretty big factor this year.”
“I thought Biden was the easiest choice in the world over Trump,” said student Elijah Bozos, 19. “But since the situation in Gaza, Biden's decision to become president is probably complacent. He really lost my vote.” ”
But Clayton believes the majority of younger Democrats will support Biden in November.
“Young people are not stupid,” Clayton said. “We know what the future looks like for us under a Donald Trump administration, and we know what the future looks like for us under a Joe Biden administration.”
