Hillary Clinton leaves some millennials unimpressed as their votes drift toward third-party candidates

The Independent interviewed undergraduate students at Temple University following Hillary Clinton's outreach to millennials

The US Secret Service posted checkpoints on the west side of Philadelphia’s Temple University, screened almost 300 people, and Hillary Clinton made her case to millennials – but for the majority of students, it was business as usual on campus.

Ms Clinton delivered her address to some 250 students in Temple’s Mitten Hall, where she was met with enthusiasm from the audience, yet the simple utterance of Bernie Sanders’ name prompted the largest cheers of the afternoon. That moment underscored the Clinton campaign’s inability to galvanise millennial voters in the same way that Mr Sanders – or even Barack Obama – could.

According to last week’s Quinnipiac University poll, Ms Clinton’s lead amongst millennial voters has disintegrated. The poll showed that, in a four-way race, 31 per cent of likely voters under 35 would choose Ms Clinton; 26 per cent favoured Donald Trump. But a significant number – 29 per cent – would choose Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, while only 15 per cent favoured Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

Many Temple University undergraduate students interviewed by The Independent, who did not attend the Clinton campaign event, expressed their disillusionment with this year’s presidential election, and said they were by and large unimpressed by the Democratic nominee.

“I feel like [Hillary is] alright-ish,” 19-year-old photography major Layne Miller said. “She’s better than Donald Trump; that’s like my main concern at this point.”

Ms Miller explained that she would have prefered Bernie Sanders win the nomination because he addressed issues more pertinent to her life.

“He served my interests more as a college student in lots of debt,” she said. “Debts like a big thing in my life now – as it is for most college students.”

One student 19, said she was also excited for the Sanders campaign, but preferred the Green Party to either of the two major political parties.

“I care a lot about social issues and environmental issues a lot too; which is why I was drawn to the Green Party,” the student, who studies ceramics, said. “I really want a $15 minimum wage and I – I just don’t feel like the Democratic Party is really doing a lot for me, for most of the issues that I care about.

Christian Matozzo is planning on choosing a write-in candidate (Feliks Garcia)

However, she felt voting Green on the national level was a futile effort.

“You don’t build a party with the presidential election,” she added, “so a third-party vote wouldn’t really do much for this election.”

Christian Matozzo, a 22-year-old journalism student, has decided to go with an even lesser known candidate than Dr Stein, and will write in American Solidarity Party nominee Mike Maturen.

“Neither party currently espouses most any of my views consistently,” he said. “I would consider myself socially conservative and economically liberal. …

“And I think that without a candidate that is pro-life, pro-union, pro-living wage, pro-universal health care, against the death penalty and war, we’re not going to see any changes.”