--- title: 2016 Election: Hillary Clinton Student Loan Debt Emoji Tweet description: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton asked people to share their thoughts on student loans using only emoji. canonical: https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-12T20:45:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:15.874Z og:title: Hillary Clinton Uses Emoji to Tackle Student Debt og:description: She asked people on Twitter to talk about the issue using only emoji. og:url: https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Uses Emoji to Tackle Student Debt twitter:description: She asked people on Twitter to talk about the issue using only emoji. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hillary Clinton Vies to Be the First Emoji President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=812de95d-ee5a-4ff1-b46c-047f7e911cb1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch: Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GDh3tmj2.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2015-08-10. Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump: 'It's All Entertainment'_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Aug 12, 2015 8:45 PM UTC by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Aug 12, 2015 8:45 PM UTC Hillary Clinton ❤️️s millennials. In an effort to engage with younger voters, the Democratic presidential candidate asked them to share their thoughts on student loans using only emoji, the cutesy pictograms that litter social media. > [](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/631538115514007553) That’s a rather complex issue to boil down, but we noticed a few specific emoji popped up frequently: the pile of poo, the skull and the pistol. Suffice it to say, younger voters are not happy about their student loans. Here are some of the responses which followed Clinton’s rules: > [](https://twitter.com/ForevaBeautyful/status/631548858586255360) > [](https://twitter.com/nandorvila/status/631539448589762560) > [](https://twitter.com/TravisSBN/status/631539265868988417) > [](https://twitter.com/IFGreg/status/631541075262480388) > [](https://twitter.com/resnicow/status/631542411924103168) > [](https://twitter.com/mylestanzer/status/631539946520756224) > [](https://twitter.com/leftoutside/status/631543467412484096) > [](https://twitter.com/LoisaidaSam/status/631549211641835521) > [](https://twitter.com/DonovanDelorme/status/631552527201255424) And then, of course, came the responses that did _not_ follow the three-emoji rule. There were those who mocked her attempts to connects with the youths: > [](https://twitter.com/titonka/status/631542997000278016) Some people questioned her oversimplification of a complicated topic: > [](https://twitter.com/MrCott/status/631540170785816576) Others decided to turn around and ask _her_ a question: > [](https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/631539979534118912) Some people showed their overall support while letting her down gently: > [](https://twitter.com/mikescollins/status/631542372766060545) And then, finally, there were the people who anticipated this blowing up in Clinton’s face: > [](https://twitter.com/emanuelmaiberg/status/631540445332377600) But it was a more specific complaint: > [](https://twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/631539876299677697) That led her social media director to apologize: > [](https://twitter.com/julesdwit/status/631544285951717376) We look forward to seeing voters’ three-emoji thoughts on fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reforming immigration next. ## Transcript [00:00] But I just want to remind us that [00:05] what they say about women. Not one [00:09] woman who is perfectly capable and incredibly [00:12] impressive, able to take care of herself. But all these [00:15] women that I have fought for, worked for, stood up for, [00:19] advocated for And wanna be a president for, who may [00:23] not have the opportunity to defend themselves, who [00:28] may lose the right to exercise a personal [00:32] choice, if certain [ UNKNOWN ] of the Republican's [00:35] were to be successful, I don't want that forgotten. So [00:38] yes, I know it makes great TV, I think the guy went way [00:42] overboard, offensive, outrageous, pick your adjective, [00:45] but what Marco Rubio said has as much of an impact [00:49] in terms of where the Republican Party is today, As [00:52] anybody else on that stage and it is deeply troubling [00:55] and it should be to the press, not just to those of us [00:59] that have been doing this work for so long. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Vies to Be the First Emoji President","datePublished":"2015-08-12T20:45:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:15.874Z","description":"She asked people to use emoji to talk about student debt","url":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Hillary Clinton","Social Media","2016 Election","twitter","emoji"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/","name":"Hillary Clinton Vies to Be the First Emoji President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump","description":"Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump: 'It's All Entertainment'","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GDh3tmj2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-10T20:23:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GDh3tmj2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3994876/hillary-clinton-student-debt-emoji/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```