How is Social Media Influencing the 2024 Election?
Chloe Kubalak
September 21, 2024
Social network feeds continue to flood algorithms with posts about Kamala Harris being “brat,” and her vice president candidate Tim Walz being a “Midwest princess,” a pair that fits the ideals of many young people. Internet trends and memes have exploded over the summer since Harris took current President Joe Biden’s spot for the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
Young people have been notoriously difficult to get to the polls, and the Democratic party will continue to rely on voters between the ages of 18-29, just as they did in the 2020 presidential election. Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE determined that about half of this age group cast their vote for a candidate, a huge increase from the 2016 election where only about 40% participated. In the 2024 election process, accounts such as @KamalaHQ on TikTok rely on social media trends to garner public support, especially from Gen Z and younger millennials. With varying degrees of youth voting across the United States, embracing the latest slang and appealing to the “lime-green with blurred black text” aesthetics of many first-time voters, may be a great push for Harris campaigns.
How did Harris and her team know that they should be creating such content? Senior Researcher Colleen McClain of the Pew Research Center conducted a survey among some other researchers where they measured “how Americans navigate politics on TikTok, X, Facebook, and Instagram.” Almost half of those between the ages of 18-29 reported having TikTok as their most used social media to keep in touch with politics, more than any other age group.
Yet, Harris knows exactly where to target when advertising and campaigning: those who feel like their voices have consistently not been heard. For example, TikToks that join trends quoting Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon,” with a slideshow depicting Kamala Harris as the Femininomenon needed in the White House, attract underrepresented individuals in politics. By leveraging current fads to gain exposure with increased views, likes, and comments (the video mentioned has almost 59 mil views from the time of publishing)–supporting an artist who handles topics relating to LGBTQ+ ideas, being loud and yourself, representing the ever-changing adolescent population, and most importantly, being a woman–Harris gains the attention of people who have been forgotten and treated unfairly in politics, LGBTQ+ members, women, and everyone who deserves to have their voices heard.
Young people flock to the comment sections with memes and positive remarks. Whoever is behind the KamalaHQ account is doing a great job at attracting attention from the mass public, especially when this upcoming election determines the fate of the next four years for many, many people.
The current Vice President and her team aren’t the only ones driving people to the polls. Charli XCX, who recently dropped an album in early June titled “BRAT,” called Kamala Harris “brat” on her X profile. Along with the idea of having a “brat summer,” people began creating lime green profile pictures and creating dances along to the tunes of this new album. The artist herself, in an interview, stated that by being her version of a brat, you take risks despite the stereotypes that society has set, you want to be the center of attention and be unique. Harris and her team embrace this in the fullest, showing sides of the current Vice President that many political figures fear to show: the real side.
Taylor Swift, mocking JD Vance’s comment about Democratic women being “childless cat ladies,” made a post on Instagram the night after the Democratic National Convention. Within this post, she formally announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris and her campaign. A-list celebrities that have become increasingly popular among this new age of voters over the past few years, such as Swift, know the power of their voice and that people will listen to what they have to say.
With the positive aspects, come the inevitable negatives. Social media is not always the place to get a full deep dive into that day's politics, and it is not a good source for credibility. Short-form content has taken over over the past few years, leaving TV shows and movies in the dust. Why watch commercial break after commercial break to watch five minutes of the daily rundown when you can find it all on TikTok or Instagram in thirty seconds? Our attention spans have shortened, but basing our opinions of presidential candidates on a TikTok meme is not going to provide us with any valid criticism or commendation.
With the people we look up to restating our beliefs, it creates an echo chamber. Through this, we come to believe only the ideas that we see, such as on our social media feed, while ignoring the opposing side. By viewing posts by Charli XCX, Taylor Swift, and similar artists, people who we agree with and stand behind, only reinforce our current beliefs, creating a complex bias. Humans tend to hear only what they want, but when it comes to something that will affect us all as a society, we need to hear every side of what they say and their plans for our futures.
Vice President Kamala Harris is laying the foundation for the Democratic Party through meme videos, hopping on trends, and gaining active celebrity endorsements left and right. Compared to former President Donald Trump, she is doing a much better job appealing to an age group that has been thrown to the curb for too long.