CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati-based indie group The National held a concert Wednesday night to encourage young Ohio voters to take on an issue of national (National?) importance -- the presidential election.
The band performed for a crowd of 3,000 Wednesday night in Washington Park as part of the Clinton campaign’s "Love Trumps Hate" concert series, which has comprised battleground-state performances from high-profile (and hopefully youth-appealing) Clinton supporters like Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez.
"Young people, she’s setting your future," lead singer Matt Berninger told the crowd. “She is going to help your kids' futures, so young people, don’t take this for granted."
President Barack Obama cleaned up among young voters in 2012; according to Politico, he won 67 percent of the youth vote nationally. Hillary Clinton enjoys a youth lead compared to her opponent, Donald Trump, but has struggled to reclaim millennial would-be supporters from her former rival Bernie Sanders and from third-party candidates like Jill Stein.
Katherine Ducey, a 19-year-old concertgoer who had already placed her vote for Hillary Clinton, said she had been troubled by her peers’ lack of political engagement during this election cycle.
"It makes me sad when I hear about people and they’re like, ‘It doesn’t affect me, I don’t care,'" she said. "I was so excited to vote."
The Clinton campaign isn’t done with Cincinnati yet. Bernie Sanders will stump for his former rival at the University of Cincinnati Thursday afternoon.
