By Lakshmi Gandhi
New Yorkers volunteering for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign worked their way down Broadway Sunday encouraging Manhattanites to vote for their candidate. The gathering attracted many younger voters, most of whom stressed Clinton's legislative record and public policy experience over opponent Barack Obama's youth and focus on hope.
These young voters want Clinton to be the next president.
"I first got involved in politics because I was inspired by Barack Obama," said a student at Marymount Manhattan College. "A lot of students are inspired by him to vote, and I was inspired to research because I am a big dork." The 23-year-old said that after researching the healthcare plans of both candidates he was drawn to Clinton and remains impressed by her record.
Ian Rivera, a 19-year-old St. John's University sophomore, agreed that Obama appealed to young voters.
"I think that most younger people, they are very fair weather," he said. "They see him speak and they fall in love. I think that a lot of people say that they are Obama fans but once they dig a little deeper they make a better decision."
St. John's law student Sheebani Patel remembers watching Clinton on television as an 8-year-old in 1992 as she made her famous statement about not just staying home and baking cookies. "I was so impressed by her," said Patel. "Substantively, she has been working for children for 35 years."
"I am just at the age where a lot of my friends are supporting Obama," said Patel as she stood at the corner of 34th Street and Broadway.
A few minutes later, the crowd of supporters chanted: "No more promises, we want proof."
Patel's roommate Eugenia Naletova, 23, said that she was impressed by how many Clinton supporters she met while canvassing. She supports Clinton because of her health care plan and her Iraq strategy.
"It's been overwhelmingly successful as to how many people who support her and who know why they support her," Naletova said.
Students for Hillary want better answers on voting for Obama.
Naletova has many friends who support Obama but said that the support does not seem to be based on his policy positions.
"The majority of my friends who are voting for Obama can't give me any substantive reason as to why they are voting for him," she said. "They say things like 'he's cool' and 'I want to hang out with him,' but they don't give any substantive reasons."
"And we've had a president that people want to have a beer with and look where that has gotten us," she said.
Ed. Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the exact identity of the Marymount Manhattan College student is unclear.