Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders will head to Ohio on Saturday to help Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a battleground state where her poll numbers are flagging.

His mission: millennials.

The Vermont independent was a clear favorite among young people during his primary battle with Clinton, consistently leading overwhelmingly among 18-29-year-olds. Though Sanders lost Ohio, a CNN exit poll showed he won 81% of that age bracket in the Buckeye State.

At events in the Canton, Kent and Akron areas, Sanders is tasked with emphasizing Clinton’s proposals to help young people by, among other things, eliminating college tuition for working people and making free community college and debt-free college available to all Americans. Sanders will kick off a “Weekend of Action” organizing event in the Canton area and rally Ohioans on college campuses in the Kent and Akron areas, according to the Clinton campaign’s announcement.

Sanders said during an interview that he aims to help Clinton by cutting through the media’s focus on personality politics and focusing on how Clinton tops GOP nominee Donald Trump on important issues.

“What every American — Democrat, Republican, independent — has got to ask themselves, issue by issue, (is), ‘Who is the better candidate for them, for the middle class, for working families?’” Sanders said. “And if you go through the issues — raising the minimum wage, pay equity, family leave, making public colleges and universities tuition free, climate change — on all of those issues and many, many others, clearly Hillary Clinton is far and away the superior candidate. That’s what has to be dealt with and that’s the point that we’ll try to make.”

Bernie Sanders applauds Hillary Clinton's education plan

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Sanders, who spent most of August writing a book, will also campaign Friday for congressional candidate Zephyr Teachout in New York and later that day for Senate candidate Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania. In an August fundraising letter, Sanders focused on McGinty’s race and on Senate races in Ohio, New Hampshire and Nevada, saying the outcome of those races could determine which party controls the Senate in 2017.

Donna Brazile, interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, said she has asked Sanders to help the party with voter registration, early voting and get-out-the-vote efforts.

“The time I want Bernie — and I love him — is for early voting,” she said. “Bernie Sanders is going to help Democrats up and down the ticket.”

On Labor Day in New Hampshire, Sanders held his first solo campaign event for Clinton since endorsing her in July.

In Ohio, Sanders will urge supporters to register to vote ahead of the state’s Oct. 11 deadline, according to the Clinton campaign. In addition to education, Sanders also will discuss Clinton’s plans to protect access to health care for young Americans, raising the minimum wage, protecting the climate and protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

After the primaries, Sanders worked with Clinton in July on an education plan that would allow families with incomes up to $125,000 to pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities. Hillary for Ohio released a report this week that found more than 89% of Ohio households would qualify.

Ohio is among battleground states where Trump is polling slightly ahead. A Suffolk University poll of 500 likely Ohio voters released Thursday showed Trump leading Clinton 42-39%, within the margin of error. The poll showed Trump leading Clinton 43-31% among 18-34-year-olds and 42-34% among 35-49-year-olds.

"We're excited to have Sen. Sanders out on the trail because he speaks passionately about the progressive economic agenda that he and Hillary Clinton share and about the consequences and dangers of electing Donald Trump," said Jesse Ferguson, a Clinton spokesman.

Clinton has also enlisted Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to make a similar case to millennial voters this weekend in Columbus and Cleveland. On Monday, Clinton will campaign in Philadelphia, where she will deliver a speech laying out the stakes of the election for millennial voters, according to an advisory released Thursday.

"Clinton will discuss the challenges facing young people today and how her agenda would support them, including her plans to make free community college and debt-free college available to all Americans," the advisory states.

National polls show the race tightening, with Clinton just barely ahead in a RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys. Clinton has captured support from an overwhelming majority of Sanders backers and leads Trump among younger voters. But polls show her supporters are less enthusiastic about voting.

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Sanders won’t be able to persuade the “Bernie or Bust” crowd to get behind Clinton, said Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster and consultant. But he could help drive turnout among independents and young people.

“The younger you go, the less likely they are actually to vote,” Bannon said.

Events in July could make Sanders' job tougher. Some of his supporters felt embittered after Clinton appointed Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida as an honorary chair of her campaign. The appointment came after leaked emails revealed efforts by the Democratic National Committee to undermine Sanders' campaign. The scandal forced Wasserman Schultz to step down as party chair just before the national convention.

Further riling Sanders supporters was the unexplained dismissal of former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, one of Sanders’ top supporters, from the convention program.

“They’re asking this man to walk through hell with gasoline clothes on,” Turner said of what the Clinton campaign expects of Sanders on the campaign trail. “It’s harder for him to go to his supporters to say things will be different."

Two “shining lights” are the progressive platform that passed the convention and Brazile’s appointment as interim chair, which will give the party a chance for a new start, she said.

“That is going to determine how serious we are about winning over millennials and winning over Bernie Nation,” she said.

Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY

Follow @ngaudiano on Twitter.