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Finally. @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris have won! They were propelled to the WH by young people, especially young people of color in key battleground states. @sunrisemvmt has been deploying money, volunteers & resources to have a major impact on youth turnout. Let me share how: (1/22)
In 2016, many young people stayed home. There were fears that the same lack of enthusiasm would doom Biden. Like Hillary Clinton, he had failed to attract support from young voters during the primary. But Biden did something politicians rarely do: listen to young people. (2/22)
Climate change playing a key role in the presidential race wasnât a foregone conclusion from the start. Sunrise Movement and our allies campaigned aggressively from the start of the Democratic primary to force a race to the top around the Green New Deal. (3/22)
Candidates heeded the call, releasing more & more bold climate plans in the direction of the Green New Deal. Biden released his climate plan as his 1st policy rollout. Sanders & Warren surpassed Bidenâs plan in ambition, winning the support of young voters in the primary. (4/22)
After Sanders dropped out, Sunrise Movement led the charge with @NextGenAmerica, @justicedems, @MFOLParkland, @UWDAction, @alliance4youth & @IfNotNowOrg to sound the alarm on the lack of enthusiasm at the time amongst the youth electorate for Joe Bidenâs candidacy. (5/22)
These groups penned an open letter to VP Biden about the need to embrace a more progressive agenda & take some concrete steps to appeal to young voters. The campaign heeded the call, met with the youth groups & built out its young outreach program. (6/22) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/progressive-youth-groups-issue-list-demands-joe-biden-n1179401
He invited @VarshPrakash to join the Biden-Sanders Climate Task Force, declared climate as his â#1 issueâ, leaned into it as a major part of his platform & the closing strategy of the campaign, & put forward the most ambitious plan from a major party candidate in history. (7/22)
And it worked. Bidenâs favorability among young voters went up 45 points from May-Oct. While Bidenâs favorability among all other age groups was virtually unchanged, his net favorability with voters aged 18 to 34 went from -22 in May to +23 in Oct. (8/22) https://twitter.com/dellavolpe/status/1321550887689572354?s=21
Research found that telling young voters about Bidenâs climate plan was the single best way to increase enthusiasm for him. A NYT/Siena poll showed that Bidenâs plan to invest $2 trillion in renewable energy is wildly popular among voters age 18-29. (9/22) https://messagebox.substack.com/p/new-poll-how-to-fire-up-young-voters
MoveOn also tested 70 ads and found that the ad focusing on Bidenâs climate plan was the most effective at mobilizing voters across the board, and was particularly effective with voters of color under the age of 35. (10/22) https://heated.world/p/moveons-most-effective-election-ad
Sunrise produced some of the most viral ads of the cycle, including the viral #GreenNewDealmaker ad to defend @EdMarkey's senate seat in MA.
Huge props to @_dotgov, @SRQuigley @hailey_asquin who set a new bar for campaign storytelling. (11/22) https://twitter.com/EdMarkey/status/1293986122318610435?s=20
Huge props to @_dotgov, @SRQuigley @hailey_asquin who set a new bar for campaign storytelling. (11/22) https://twitter.com/EdMarkey/status/1293986122318610435?s=20
When few were taking on the propaganda from Fox News & Big Oil executives about our plan to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process, we talked about unions backing a Green New Deal in the heart of oil country in Texas. (12/22) https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1316038487519313921?s=20
Sunrise reached tens of millions of people with our creative content, sharing honest stories from our movement about what was at stake in this election & what is possible if we came together & made Biden a Rooseveltian president. Voting was step 1. (13/22) https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1313640516018470913?s=20
A Harvard Kennedy School poll of Americans ages 18 to 29 found that enthusiasm for voting in 2020 was on par with 2008, when we saw historic youth turnout for Obama. Itâs this enthusiasm that snagged Biden a victory. (14/22) https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/harvard-youth-poll
Sunrise played a significant role in increasing enthusiasm for Biden and his climate plan. Sunrise worked for months in key Swing State to get out the vote among young people:
1.95M unique voters contacted
13.9k total volunteer shifts
777k postcards sent
(15/22)
1.95M unique voters contacted13.9k total volunteer shifts 777k postcards sent(15/22)
To their credit, Biden's team didn't back down. Despite Trumpâs attacks, Bidenâs team leaned into climate change as the closing message in the final days of the campaign, producing two major climate ads âaimed at reaching youth votersâ. (16/22) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/us/elections/biden-leans-into-climate-change-with-two-new-ads.html
As a result, youth turnout reached the highest levels in history.
âItâs become pretty clear that youth and people of color have pushed this election over the edge for Biden" -
@Minassian2018 (17/22) https://twitter.com/BenWessel/status/1324786493550817280?s=20
âItâs become pretty clear that youth and people of color have pushed this election over the edge for Biden" -
@Minassian2018 (17/22) https://twitter.com/BenWessel/status/1324786493550817280?s=20
Not only did everyone who stuck their neck out to fight boldly for the Green New Deal retain their seat, but our efforts also helped elect a whole new slate of Squad members into Congress that others hesitated to invest in. (18/22) https://theappeal.org/the-squad-is-growing-congress/
I can't tell you how inspired I am by the young people who gave hours of their time, week after week, to calls strangers and talk about this election. Middle schoolers who made calls between soccer practice and homework. These are my heroes. (19/22) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/election-2020-how-teens-are-getting-involved_l_5f7f6f33c5b664e5babb0671
Young people, especially people of color, were the margin of victory for Biden in battleground states. Together with many other groups, we delivered a clear climate mandate to the Biden-Harris administration. (20/22) https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06112020/young-voters-climate-change-environmental-justice-joe-biden
4 yrs ago I was devastated when Trump was elected. The climate movement didn't have a plan. Now, the path forward isn't clear with the Senate undecided. All I know is I'm fucking proud as hell to have worked with @sunrisemvmt these past 3 yrs to make this election count. (21/22)
If you want to join the youth army for a Green New Deal that is just getting started, now is the perfect time. This movement has given me joy, purpose & clarity about how to make change when it feels insurmountable. We can do this. This is OUR time. (end) https://www.sunrisemovement.org/?ms=SunriseMovement
