NOV 21, 2024 | OPINION | By Margaret Freeman
If you have been online in the past few months, you’ve probably seen posts from @Kamala HQ, Kamala Harris’ campaign social media account, following social media trends. This use of social media aligned with her campaign’s goal to energize young voters in the election. Trump also used social media to engage young men by spreading more traditional ideals through right-wing podcasts and radical videos. Across the campaign, both candidates used social media to develop their appeal to certain voters.
Harris’ uniquely digital campaign kicked off when singer Charli XCX posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “Kamala IS brat” shortly after President Biden dropped out of the election. This was followed by a series of TikTok audio edits of her “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” speech and lively dance moves. Her campaign’s rapid embrace of social media helped the Democratic party regain the energy lost during the Biden presidency and campaign, with some comparing it to how Millennial voters felt about the Obama campaign in 2008.
An emphasis on a somewhat “meme-able” online presence continued throughout her short campaign, with her running mate Tim Walz gaming online with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and even bringing content creators to the Democratic National Convention to film.
“Voters are quite literally everywhere,” Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said. He also emphasized that it is crucial that the campaign messaging is “everywhere people are consuming their news,” including on social media.
Although the way Harris spread information about her campaign was relatively unique and specifically targeted Gen Z voters, she also paid attention to undecided voters, “especially moderates, college-educated suburbanites, and women of all races,” according to the Associated Press. This undecided demographic is the group that has been the traditional focus of past presidential campaigns.
Harris’s strategy to focus on women voters was likely guided by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. The Harris campaign made an intriguing push for Republican women with an ad telling women that “What happens in the booth, stays in the booth,” encouraging them to vote for her even if their spouses disapproved. This ad received lots of backlash from Republicans, including Fox News host Jesse Watters, who claimed that “pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as an affair.”
Donald Trump also harnessed the power of the internet to appeal to young voters but in a different way. Trump used platforms such as “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast to portray himself as a hyper-masculine candidate who will focus on what these young men are typically most concerned about: the economy and immigration, according to Aaron Smith in an interview with NPR.
Trump’s use of social media was primarily tied to getting votes from “radicalized” young men. This demographic was shown what Ellen Chloë Bateman (a researcher of online radicalization among young men) calls the “Manosphere.” The Manosphere consists of misogynistic and racist videos that social media algorithms suggest, particularly to teenage boys. These videos are often from high-profile Trump supporters like Ben Shapiro. This messaging was critical in pushing young men to vote for Trump.
Harris and Trump used social media in their campaign, pushing young people to vote. Harris’s messaging took an energetic approach that was heavily centered around pop culture, while Trump used social media to connect with young men and spread more radical ideas about government. Harris’ strategy was an especially new approach to political campaigns, and while it did not work for her, it will certainly be intriguing to see if it is something that future Democratic candidates will apply to their campaigns.