Buoyed by a recent poll showing a ten point lead over Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Vermont Senator is making his case for the nomination in his stronghold of New Hampshire. Helped by a geographical proximity and a primary voting process that has a strong independent vote, Sanders has long led the polls in the Granite State. Without a doubt, Sanders’ bid depends upon a New Hampshire victory and, most likely, a victory in Iowa as well. Pulling off a slight upset in Iowa, followed by a strong New Hampshire victory, could make the Democratic nomination very interesting.

The National Journal reports:

With vot­ing set to be­gin in just sev­en weeks, the sen­at­or from Ver­mont on Monday told sev­er­al dozen stu­dents and fac­ulty at Nashua Com­munity Col­lege that he has a real shot against Demo­crat­ic front-run­ner Hil­lary Clin­ton, and that re­cent sur­veys prove it.

“We star­ted with no money, no polit­ic­al or­gan­iz­a­tion. We star­ted at 3, 4, 5 per­cent in the polls,” Sanders said. “I just came back from Iowa, which will hold the first caucus in the coun­try. We’re in single di­gits be­hind Sec­ret­ary Clin­ton. We can win Iowa, and I think we have a good chance to do that. Last poll out of here in New Hamp­shire had us in the lead. I think we stand a good chance to win here in New Hamp­shire. And if we can win in Iowa, and if can win in New Hamp­shire, we have a real path to­ward vic­tory, to pulling off one of the ma­jor polit­ic­al up­sets in the his­tory of our coun­try.”

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He warned his audi­ence that the elec­tions will turn on how many young people show up at the polls. “I want you to tell your friends who are not vot­ing, that that’s not very sens­ible,” he said. “People have fought and died to pre­serve Amer­ic­an demo­cracy. We owe it to them to ser­i­ously en­gage in the im­port­ant is­sues fa­cing our coun­try.”

Turnout of young voters will certainly be key. Progressive change is less likely to occur if younger voters, really the voters with the most at stake, are energized and engaged. Young people feel the brunt of disastrous policies, such as the Drug War here at home and foreign wars abroad. The intrusion upon civil liberties are more likely to be felt by young people, particularly those of color and living in poverty. Bernie Sanders has called for the best policies regarding civil liberties in the Democratic primary, from marijuana legalization to criminal justice reform to avoiding unnecessary wars around the globe. Here’s hoping that people across the country start thinking like the independent-minded folks in New Hampshire, their motto is “Live Free or Die“.

(Featured photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)