Kamala Harris declared ‘I love Gen Z’ enthusiastically on the campaign trail while Donald Trump has frequently given a shoutout to his ‘tall’ 18-year-old son Barron.

Millions of young people are eligible to vote in the 2024 election for the first time come November, and while such voters have often shown up in lower numbers in the past, this generation has proven to be different.

Both Harris and Trump are making plays for the crucial youth vote in a race that looks like it will be decided by a razor-thin margins in just over a handful of swing states.

More than 41 million Gen Z voters will be eligible to cast ballots in the 2024 election across the country including more than eight million young voters who are newly eligible to vote since the 2022 midterms.

It’s the first presidential election playing out on TikTok and with more online influencers and streaming options than ever before, so the campaigns are utilizing many avenues to reach the next generation where they are.

It’s an extremely diverse generation. Nearly half of Gen Z youths are people of color. One in five identifies as LGBTQ+. Not only are they more diverse, they participate.

Gen Z has been participating in civic life and elections at a higher rate than previous generations. We saw historic youth voter turnout in 2018 and 2020 especially,’ said Alberto Medina, from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.

‘We’ve seen increases in things like participating in marches and demonstrations, and volunteering for campaigns and other civic action,’ he said.

Gen Z voters are also less likely to be party or candidate loyalists instead prioritizing issues and action within their communities.
As Democrats and Republicans work on engaging young people, an exclusive new poll for DailyMail.com shows Harris is seeing a surge in support when it comes to voters ages 18 to 29 compared to when President Biden topped the Democratic ticket.

It found 48 percent of young voters now back Harris while just 32 percent back Trump. 9 percent support independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.

When the same polling was conducted in July, Harris had 37 percent support and Trump had 26 percent support, the poll conducted by J.L. Partners found.

With that, the campaigns are taking multiple approaches to reaching the key group of voters
This is the first presidential election where TikTok has played such a vital role in the arsenal of tools to reach young voters.

TikTok Takeover

It comes in a unique moment. The clock is ticking down on the app potentially being banned in the United States soon after the election. But one would not know that watching the campaign activity as Democrats and Republicans alike lean in on using it with less than three months to go.

As President Biden exited the presidential race and Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket, TikTok and other social media platforms have been a huge asset in the first few weeks of her campaign.
It was as if the internet was taken over by supporters using coconut emojis and palm trees as older voters had to ask their kids and younger colleagues what it means to be ‘brat’ following pop star Charlie XCX’s endorsement on X ‘Kamala IS brat.’

The @KamalaHQ account now has more than 3.4 million followers with its following doubling overnight on from Sunday, July 21 to Monday, July 22 after Biden’s exit, according to the campaign.

Its number of followers has grown to more than eight times what it was when it was @BidenHQ, making the @KamalaHQ TikTok the most followed Harris social media asset of her entire campaign.

With its rebranding, @KamalaHQ has pulled in more total views on TikTok than Donald Trump’s account with more than 462 million video views and 66 million likes.

The campaign is using a mix of viral moments and trends in an effort to break through to voters across platforms in a fragmented media environment.

Behind the humor and memes, the campaign said it is focused on forcing a visual contrast between Harris and Trump.
It’s most viewed video: one set to the song ‘Femininomenon’ by Chappell Roan which jumps between images of Trump hunched over in a golf cart and then the vice president. The video posted July 22 has more than 56 million views. It’s also the campaign’s most liked TikTok to date.

The separate @KamalaHarris TikTok account also gained two million followers in just 24 hours after Biden’s exit bringing its total followers to 4.4 million.

Its best performing video features NSYNC’s Lance Bass asking the vice president what they’re going to say to Trump in November. She responds ‘bye, bye, bye.’ The TikTok has with more than 45 million views.

The campaign has been quick to churn out regular content including videos from Harris’ rallies with millions of views and clips of Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance.

One video of Vance’s plane pulling up on the same tarmac as Harris’ plane with the voice of ‘Dance Moms’ Abby Lee Miller complaining over it has more than 20 million views.

Overall, the Harris’ digital operation has more than 175 staffers across the campaign and DNC focused on fundraising, persuasion and mobilization and creative.
The Trump’s campaign has also utilizing TikTok, an app the former president once supported banning but now vows to protect if reelected.

The former president has more than 9.9 million followers on the social media app.

His video launching the account at the UFC in July has more than 171 million views. But since then his campaign has posted much less frequently than Harris’ campaign has.

A TikTok promoting Trump’s interview with Logan Paul had more than 159 million views, but in total he has only nine videos on the platform since joining in June.

Streaming Strategy

More recently, Trump has been conducting outreach through a series streamed interviews thanks in part to his youngest son Barron.

The ex-president joined the online streamer Adin Ross for a wide-ranging interview at his Mar-a-Lago estate in his own effort to connect with young voters. 500,000 people tuned in to watch the Kick livestream as the 23-year-old streamer gifted the Republican presidential nominee an Rolex watch and Tesla cybertruck.

The 78-year-old thanked his youngest son Barron for introducing him to his ‘friend’ Adin in a social media post.
Barron Trump is credited with being his dad’s link to other influencers. His best friend is 17-year-old right wing influencer Bo Loudon. The pair has reportedly been tasked with providing input for the campaign to engage the youth vote.

Barron appeared at his first Trump rally earlier this year. Loudon has been a vocal advocate for the ex-president in interviews and online.

In June, Trump also spoke with 29-year-old YouTuber and pro wrestler Logan Paul.

On Monday, he returned to X to join tech billionaire Elon Musk for a two-hour conversation. His return on Monday led to a surge of 900,000 new followers.

The last time he used X was to post his mugshot from the Georgia election interference case last August. Musk had allowed him back on the app after he was kicked off the platform following the January 6 attack.

Streaming is being used more and more by campaigns this election cycle.

The Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago will be streamed for the first time ever on vertical streaming platforms, organizers announced on Tuesday, including on TikTok, Instagram and Youtube.

‘With more and more Americans consuming their news in new and innovative ways, Democrats stand ready to meet them where they are,’ said DNCC executive director Alex Hornbrook.

It’s also bringing in the influencers who can engage their specific audiences with content.

Ground Game Engagement

While Gen Z grew up in the digital world using social media as both consumers and creators, research shows despite its value, young people get a lot of their information about politics and elections from their personal networks.

‘Some of that may be happening online and through social media as well, but I think it’s really key to highlight that those personal and trusted connections are incredibly important, precisely because young people need to figure out who and what to trust in this crazy information landscape,’ said Medina.

That includes parents, classmates, neighbors and peers. It means while online engagement is a part of the equation, ground game could still be key in the 2024 election with Gen Z.
The Harris campaign has touted its ground game across the country, especially in battleground states.

The campaign has more than 260 coordinated campaign offices with more than 1,400 staff across battleground states starting August with plans to add more staff.

When it comes to youth engagement, the campaign hired its 24-year-old director Eve Levenson, who previously worked for March for our Lives, in January.

It launched its national youth organizing program on college campuses during the spring semester of this year in an early effort to mobilize voters.

For those not in school, the campaign has been heading into places where young people gather like festivals and sporting events.

Harris, a member of the Boomer generation, has also made stops with students on the campaign trail. More recently she delivered a message to the Gen Z led Voters of Tomorrow Summit and was endorsed by 20 youth organizations.

On the road she has donned a more youthful attire and is known to sometimes rock Converse at campaign stops since her first presidential bid in 2019.

The Trump campaign is also actively working to sign up volunteers and register voters including at the ex-president’s rallies. They’ve touted eating into Democrats’ lead with registered voters overall in states such as Pennsylvania and Nevada while growing their lead in Arizona.

‘Kamala Harris’ policies have created a more expensive, divided, and dangerous country for young Americans to grow up in. On the contrary, President Trump will create a safe, prosperous, and free nation that helps all young people achieve their American Dream,’ national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

It’s political director said last week it had hundreds of paid staff overall, and they are in the process of hiring roughly 100 more.

There are also some 300 office and 12,000 so-called ‘Trump Force 47 Captains’ trained across battleground states.

The ex-president has also joined youth targeting events like appearing atTurning Points Action, the conservative organization focused on grassroots outreach to the next generation.

(Armani)