The energy that Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy has injected into the 2024 presidential race is tangible, with hundreds of memes created by Gen Z users circulating on social media. From the “brat summer” phenomenon on X to falling out of coconut trees on TikTok, entertaining content supporting Harris’ presidential bid has taken over every platform’s feed.
Whether the social media surge can be translated into votes in November remains to be seen, as the campaign and youth organizers make every effort to get Gen Z off their screens and out to the polls.
“I can’t stress enough how it’s not just memes,” Jessica Siles, national press secretary for Voters of Tomorrow, told TheWrap. “It’s people joining the different coalition calls, it’s people signing up and supporting organizations like ours, it’s people encouraging their peers.”
Debra Cleaver, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica, cautioned against underestimating the youth vote in 2024. “Young people care deeply about the issues on the table this election, and they’re anything but apathetic about the stakes,” she told TheWrap.
In the first 72 hours after Joe Biden withdrew two weeks ago, national voter registrations among all parties soared to over 100,000, with those under 35 years old making up nearly 85% of new registrations, according to Vote.org data.
Young adult-targeted political organizers are also flashing their enthusiasm, as 17 youth organizing groups jointly endorsed Harris’ campaign, saying her stance on reproductive freedom, climate action, economic justice and gun violence prevention makes her better equipped to rally young voters to the ballot box.
“I felt rebirthed all over again,” said Carolanne Briscoe, 29, a Black youth advocate and founder of Justice Is Us, who registered to vote for the first time after a recent “Year of Youth” summit held by Voters of Tomorrow. “I felt like it let me tap into my true self and what I could truly do for this community.”
Young voters have the numbers to sway the 2024 race: 40.8 million members of Gen Z, around 45% of whom are voters of color, will be eligible to vote by November, according to Tufts University. Of those Gen Z voters, 8.3 million will be newly eligible since the 2022 midterm elections.
So far, they are showing a much stronger preference for Harris than Donald Trump, with 60% of respondents to an Axios/Generation Lab poll of 18-to-34-year-olds saying they would support Harris, while 40% said they would support Trump.
Harris is also doing better among young voters than Biden was prior to withdrawing, providing an opportunity for the Democratic Party to capitalize on the enthusiasm generated by a younger candidate.
“When it comes to every issue that Gen Z repeatedly cites as a key motivation in their voting, Kamala has had a strong record for and Donald Trump directly stands against,” Siles said.
“It’s not that Gen Z is just now getting started,” Hadley Duvall, a member of Gen Z and reproductive rights advocate for the Harris campaign, told TheWrap. “We’re just now being heard, [and] that’s fueling more people to get started.”
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Shades of 2008 and 2020
Many political pundits are now comparing the enthusiasm for Harris’ campaign to 2020, when Biden took on incumbent Trump. Half of Americans aged 18-29 cast a ballot in the general election, one of the highest youth voter turnouts in recent elections. The 2020 election saw an 11% increase in youth voting rates compared to 2016, according to Tufts.
In 2008, when Barack Obama made his first presidential run and Millennials were the youth demo, 58.5% of 18-24 year olds registered to vote, with 48.5% actually submitting a ballot, according to the U.S. Census. Obama was able to secure 66% of the under 30 voting electorate in that election.
The challenge this year will be getting Gen Z voters to actually cast ballots. “The biggest hurdle is people trusting the fact that their voice is powerful enough to make a difference,” Duvall said.
In the first 48 hours after Biden stepped aside, more than 38,500 people registered to vote, according to Vote.org. The following morning, the figure skyrocketed to over 100,000. Of the new registrations, 18-year-old voters alone make up 18%.
“Enthusiasm is important for turnout, but most young voters are new to the process,” said Cleaver, who founded Vote.org. “When students don’t vote, it’s because they face an informational barrier, such as missing the registration deadline or not knowing where to vote or what to bring to the polls.”
Cleaver added that this fall her organization intends to be on 559 college campuses and engage 7.1 million college-aged voters. “We consistently see that when we arm college students and young voters with the information they need, we’re able to increase turnout,” she said.
Left-leaning youth voter organizations like Voters of Tomorrow are also seizing the moment. The group said it saw more sign ups for their nationwide chapters in the three days following Harris’ announcement than in the two months prior. It also saw its best fundraising day in history on July 21, the day Harris announced her candidacy, raising $125,000 that day and an additional $125,000 the following week.
I felt rebirthed all over again. I felt like it let me tap into my true self and what I could truly do for this community.
Carolanne Briscoe, 29, a Black youth advocate on Harris’ candidacy
When the organization hosted its annual summit, “Year of Youth,” on July 26-27, the newfound enthusiasm was palpable, those who spoke to TheWrap said. Harris even addressed the crowd in a special pre-recorded video.
Harris’ candidacy, specifically her representation of the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) female electorate, has been a source of inspiration for young Americans. Briscoe, who told TheWrap she “never really pushed the idea of being registered to vote,” said that Harris — whose presidential win would be historic — gave her hope that progress has been made in ensuring that all Americans can see themselves represented at the highest levels of government.
“It made me even think I should run for something one day,” Briscoe said. “And when it’s that time, I’m going to be the first one in line [at the voting booth], and I already know who I’m voting for.”
However, Briscoe said she couldn’t help but notice the lack of Black and brown community members in attendance at the “Year of Youth” event. “I wanted to fix it immediately,” she said.
Harris campaign strategy goes digital
While Trump is known for his constant presence on messaging sites like X/Twitter (where he still has 88 million followers) and Truth Social (7.45 million), engagement with young Americans via social media has become a defining characteristic of Harris’ campaign.
Harris staffers are working to combat the lack of information provided to young voters with a robust operation to inform and motivate them to get to the polls, according to one individual close to the campaign. The campaign launched its youth outreach effort earlier than any other Democratic presidential campaign with significant investments in digital advertising to meet voters where they are.
The campaign is already capitalizing on its social media momentum, with Harris joining TikTok herself. Trending compilations of her launch video garnered 2 million followers in the first 24 hours. The account currently has 3.8 million followers and 18.2 million likes. The campaign’s sister account KamalaHQ, which is also run by Harris staffers, currently sits at 2.9 million followers and 52.5 million likes.
It’s not that Gen Z is just now getting started. We’re just now being heard, [and] that’s fueling more people to get started.
Hadley Duvall, a reproductive rights advocate for the Harris campaign
The campaign has also leaned on “trusted messengers” to organically engage with voters online. The individual close to the campaign told TheWrap that for users not actively seeking out political content, hearing about the issues from a familiar face lessens the barrier to entry. Many of these influencers of varying backgrounds and digital niches have worked with the Biden-Harris campaign since before 2020.
Harris’ substantial digital footprint with Gen Z happened quite literally almost overnight, as popular English singer-songwriter Charli XCX posted on X, “kamala IS brat,” within hours of the news that Biden would be dropping out of the race and Harris was seeking the Democratic nomination. The post was a reference to Charli XCX’s hit 2024 album, titled “brat,” and made such an impact that the KamalaHQ X account changed its header image to match the color and font of the “brat” album and a CNN panel of Gen X and Boomer anchors devoted an entire segment to trying to explain the phenomenon.
More than 200 creators on platforms like TikTok and YouTube have been credentialed to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in two weeks, The Washington Post reported. Coverage of the event by influencers who have a direct line to Gen Z voters is a campaign strategy to meet voters where they are amid a fractured media environment.
“Young voters, young activists don’t spend hours creating videos about candidates they’re not excited about,” Siles said. “We’ve seen that translate into direct political action, too. This is in some ways Gen Z showing love through their own language, and I think it’s going to continue.”
