The Millennials are those people born between about 1980 and somewhere in the 90s.
Most were born after Reagan’s presidency, and those born during it were not really aware of him as president. What they know of him comes from what people tell them, and some of that is mythological and easily fact checked.
Although Eisenhower was president in my younger days, the most I really knew about him was that the man down the street thought him a god, and every weekday Big Brother Bob Emery had us drink a glass of milk to him on his show at noon as he played Hail to the Chief.
What I know of the reality of the presidency of Ike only came later when I was old enough to analyze politics, so it would not have been very effective to compare a presidential candidate I could vote for with a person who had 2 or 3 presidents after him, especially if they expected me to somehow remember him all that well.
So appealing to their fears of Communism when it comes to politics, or an assumed worship of Ronald Reagan does seem a bit irrelevant to those who were born after both.
Millennials are more supportive of social liberal policies relative to other demographics.
When they hear the term “Socialists”, rather than being the name of a threat, they look at countries like Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, and not Communist Russia.
So when the GOP candidates attempt to use Socialism as a scare tactic, they are obviously speaking to an old, thinning generation, and not the younger one that has now surpassed the Baby Boomers in numbers.
Doesn’t seem to be the best approach.
A little out of touch, perhaps.