In the 2008 election, millennial voters were drawn to President Barack Obama. Early on in the 2016 election, many young voters gravitated towards Senator Bernie Sanders. As election day draws nearer, Hillary Clinton is struggling to lock down the youth vote. Even Obama is aware of her awkward attempts to appeal to young people. At the 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner, he joked, “You’ve got to admit it though, Hillary trying to appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative that just signed up for Facebook. Dear America, did you get my poke? Is it appearing on your wall? I’m not sure I’m using this right. Love, Aunt Hillary.”

It’s not that young voters want to vote for Trump; in fact, two thirds of millennials have deemed him unqualified to serve as President. Young people who aren’t enthusiastic about Clinton are now stuck deciding between not voting at all or voting for a third party candidate. While Clinton is in support of issues that matter tomany young voters, such as free college tuition, climate change, birth control, and income inequality, the main reason she doesn’t have the “young vote” is because she has been deemed untrustworthy.

Clinton has proven so untrustworthy that in fact only 11% of voters believe that Clinton is “honest and trustworthy,” a recent NBC news poll showed. The main cause of this is the Benghazi scandal which led to questions about her infamous email server. While it has never been proven that Clinton has partaken in illegal activities, her 11 hour hearing on Benghazi led by Republican members of a special committee raised suspicion. If there is anything that millennials hate, it’s being lied to. In this election Sanders came close to beating Clinton in the primaries, in large part because so many people responded to his refreshingly honest approach. Despite Clinton being a well-rounded candidate, she has been in the spotlight for so long that there is bound to have been poor press and publicity, and many are tired of hearing the Clinton campaign associated with scandal. While her caution around the press has caused suspicion amongst voters, the reason behind it is valuable. Her campaign is doing their best to present a polished candidate, something that the Trump campaign hasn’t prioritized.

While recent polls have shown Clinton pulling ahead, there is still a lot of work to do. While doing her best to get the young vote Clinton has taken to social media and has started using Snapchat as a way to communicate with teens. She has even taken to using buzzwords like “awesome” to demonstrate a fun and hip side to her. These attempts have been called out on social media, as many teens react negatively to this ‘try-hard’ version of Clinton, finding her unrelatable.

Clinton’s best shot to gain the millennial vote is through the upcoming debates during which she must prove herself the better candidate. Focusing on the issues millennials care for most intensely will work to her advantage as long as she remains factually consistent and does not succumb to Trump’s insults.