The campaign to re-elect President Donald Trump opened its 2020 youth engagement program Monday night with the University of Akron as its first stop in the nation.

About 60 college Republicans turned out for the Make Campus Great Again program to register voters for the 2020 election.

“The last time I checked we had 60 people registered — we were expecting 30,” said Rylee Cupp, president of the University of Akron College Republicans. “This is going to be a national initiative and Akron is kicking it off.”

Mandy Merritt, Regional Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, said Monday that the program was designed to compete with Democrats for young voters.

“Maybe the Democrats are taking for granted that they have the youth vote, but we are fighting for it,” Merritt said.

Members of College Republican clubs from UA, Kent State University, Walsh University and Cleveland State University watched a slide show and listened to a presentation on the importance of getting out the vote at Monday night's event.

Mitch Freckleton, the RNC’s Director of Youth Engagement, told students that registering voters is key to victory for Republican candidates in 2020.

“This is our flagship program,” Freckleton said. “I sit here and see a standing-room-only crowd of students for training.”

Cupp said one of the reasons UA was chosen is its record of past success.

“Somehow, we here at Akron have found a way to do a really good job at helping Republicans,” Cupp said.

Alex Pavloff, chairman of Ohio Young Republicans, said Akron and Summit County have a history of performing better than expected for Republicans going back to Ray Bliss, an Akron resident who served as RNC chairman from 1965-1969.

Pavloff said the enthusiasm level among young Republicans is high, and he was impressed with the turnout at the UA meeting.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. This is really cool,” he said. “They’re showing up to say, ‘I’m here. Let’s get involved.’ ”

There’s plenty of room for Trump to make gains. In the 2016 campaign, young adults voted for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by a margin of 18 points (55 percent to 37 percent), according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., public policy organization.

Pavloff said Trump has a strong economy to run on, with unemployment at or near historic lows for many demographic sectors. That plays well with college students who will need jobs when they graduate from college.

Steve Buckingham, Trump Victory Ohio State director, told students their efforts could have an effect beyond the presidential election.

“This room right here could make the difference in a mayor’s race or a council race,” he said. “We win when we register more voters.”

Slightly more than half the attendees raised their hands when asked if 2020 will be their first election.

Merritt said moderate and conservative Republicans are rebelling against efforts to silence them on campus.

“We are here to give those students, those activists, the support and resources they need to fight back against leftist indoctrination …. on campuses,” she said.

Cupp said the UA campus is less polarized and more civil than many in the United States.

“One of the things I pride myself with is my ability to work with the Democrats here on campus,” he said. “We preach civility.”

Seth Koellner, chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, said he and his Democrat counterparts at Kent State have achieved a similar level of toleration and civility.

He said he and some of the KSU members were in Akron because the efforts of college students are vital to re-elect a president he admires.

“It is up to us to keep the great president we already have,” he said.

The Trump campaign and the RNC will take the “Make Campus Great Again” program to three other campuses this week: Ohio State University on Tuesday, Ohio University on Wednesday, and the University of Cincinnati on Thursday.

Beacon Journal staff writer Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this report. Alan Ashworth can be reached at 330-996-3859 or emailed at aashworth@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconjournal.