Politico correspondent Glenn Thrush reported Friday on MSNBC that the Hillary Clinton campaign was "shocked" by her abysmal showing with young voters in the Iowa caucus.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), a 74-year-old Democratic socialist, crushed her by 70 points among voters aged 17 to 29 in Iowa on Monday. A national poll now shows Clinton with just a two-point lead overall in the Democratic primary fight. Sanders also holds a wide lead in the New Hampshire primary polls.
"I think what's happening is the same thing that happened in Iowa," Thrush said. "Young people are shifting to Bernie Sanders. I just got off the phone with one of Clinton's closest friends, and this person told me that up in the suite in the Renaissance hotel in Iowa, the thing that really shocked them were the numbers among youth voters. We saw some numbers in a recent poll in New Hampshire showing something like 75 or 80 percent of people under the age of 30 supporting Sanders. It's a total tidal wave."
"And it's not just people," MSNBC anchor Kate Snow said. "It's women, too. I remember the other night at the Democratic forum when she was asked about young women supporting Sanders. She actually had a look of shock and said, 'Yeah, wow, amazing' that he's getting all these young women."
Clinton tried to make inroads with young voters at Wednesday's town hall on CNN:
She needled young voters the same way she'd privately told Black Lives Matter protesters, in a meeting videotaped and later released, that it wasn't enough to change hearts -- they needed to change policy.
"I'm impressed with them, and I'm going to do everything I can to reach out and explain why good ideas on paper are important, but you've got to be able to translate that into action," Clinton said.
"Here's what I want young people to know: They don't have to be for me. I'm going to be for them," she added.