Ken Cuccinelli — who lost his bid for Virginia governor on Tuesday — did win Virginia's youngest voters by a significant margin, according to a CNN exit poll, and the College Republicans are taking credit for it.
College-age voters — those aged 18-24 —
cast their ballots for Cuccinelli by a margin of 45 percent to 39 percent, but it wasn't enough to carry Cuccinelli to victory.
And, polling results showed, that margin could have been higher, as 15 percent of those younger than 24 voted for Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, the largest percentage vote for the third-party candidate among any age group.
ObamaCare: You Can Win With The Facts
Sarvis has largely been credited with taking votes from Cuccinelli.
McAuliffe won Tuesday's election by 2.5 percentage points, far lower than opinion polls had suggested in the weeks running up to Election Day.
The College Republican National Committee took credit for the good showing among under-25s.
"The CRNC played an integral role in winning 18-24 year olds for Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli through a calculated messaging strategy aimed at young female voters," the group said
in a memo released to Politico.
The CRNC spent $25,000 on an online ad called "TerryFish," which was a spin on the MTV show "Catfish." It portrayed a young woman who wanted to believe McAuliffe's promises, but found that they weren't true.
"The CRNC ran a 60-second ad exclusively online throughout October opposing Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe," the memo reads. "The ad targeted females 18-24 years old, with whom, as polls indicated, Cuccinelli had been underperforming."
Story continues below video.
The ad ran on websites used by the 18-24 age group such as Hulu, Pandora, and YouTube.
According to the CRNC, it was "the sole anti-McAuliffe effort running online to this demographic."
ObamaCare: You Can Win With The Facts
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.