Cutting prices in hopes of capturing the youth vote – that’s the tactic Hillary Clinton is attempting next month when she returns to the Bay Area for another campaign fundraiser. If you’re under age 35, you’ll pay half the normal fee to meet with the presidential candidate.
Political experts say Clinton’s "age-pricing" strategy is so unorthodox for politics that it just might work.
Prices were announced as Clinton and other presidential candidates are in Iowa, where polls show she and Bernie Sanders are in a dead heat. Both are trying to lure voters under age 49, who are most likely to be impacted by student debt. Currently, most pundits believe Sanders is winning that fight.
On Feb. 21, Clinton is heading to the Bay Area for a campaign fundraiser at the Atherton home of tech entrepreneur Sukhinder Singh Cassidy.
To get in, it’ll cost you $2,700 if you want a photo with Clinton. If you just want to attend, the price varies depending on your age. If you’re over 35, it’ll cost $1,000 and under 35, it’s half that: $500.
Organizers say they’re targeting young people and women in tech.
“I definitely would, yeah. I don’t think you get the opportunity every day to meet with Hillary Clinton,” said Samantha Barghout, a freelance web developer.
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At a conference called “She’s Geeky” in Mountain View, some young female techies say if they would go if they had the cash.
“I would take advantage of the opportunity, even to be able to have a conversation with her,” Barghout said.
While other millennials say 500 bucks is still too steep.
“I think it says she lives in a different world,” speaker Cami Smith-Dahl said.
NBC Bay Area political analyst Larry Gerston says he’s seen the strategy play out in the non-profit and sports worlds, but not in politics.
“But it makes perfectly good sense because let’s remember: young people, millennials we often call them these days, are the ones least likely to get politically involved and have less money than people further along the financial path,” Gerston said.
As for whether he thinks age-pricing will work: “I don’t know. We’ll have to see how many people come out. Hillary Clinton has been out here many, many times before and the question now is: How many times can you go to the well?”
