In the final stretch towards the presidential electionsthe candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump They also face each other in social networks. In this conflictive and changing terrain, one of the prominent platforms is TikTok, a key tools to capture the youth attention. The Republican has more presence there but fails to generate the sympathy that Harris arouses.
According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (Circleabbreviated in English) of the Tufts University, more than 40 million young people will be eligible to vote this year (out of a total of 240 million voters). From this number, eight million will do it for the first time.
How to capture the attention of the youngest?
40% of young adults under 30 now get their news from TikTokagainst the 9% indicated in 2020, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. This intensive use impacts how young people perceive politics, with its algorithm adjusted to their interests. This allows the formation of microcommunities based on ideologies.
For years, young voters generally favored Democrats in elections. However, the latest surveys challenged this trend by revealing a closer dispute between the two candidates.
Some young men lean toward Trump and others showing deep discontent, which will lead them not to vote.
Donald Trump launches TikTok account
In an election year, Trump opened his official TikTok account in June in a quest to appeal to the young electorate. This is a notable change, after proposing to ban the platform during his government.
However, now it is achieving viewing records: Last week, a video of you working at a McDonald’s went viral and reached 41 million views. According to the social analysis platform Zelfmost of the content linked to Trump is negative.
This ability to generate visualizations ends up generating the attention of young people through their controversies.
According to the platform, last week TikTok recorded 92,000 mentions of Donald Trumpaccumulating a total of 925.2 million views, although much of the content was negative. In comparison, Kamala Harris had 33,100 mentionswith a more favorable tone, and its campaign achieved 469.1 million views. While Trump continues to dominate in the number of publications, Harris has more approval.
The presence of Kamala Harris
According to figures from the cnnKamala Harris’ official campaign account since its beginning (in July of this year) accumulated 6 million views per post on average. This is considering his comparison with the @BidenHQ campaign account, before giving way to his vice, who posted on TikTok 335 times with around 500,000 views per post.
Grayce McCormickfounder of Lightfinder Public Relationshe stated to Newsweek that the Democrat’s strategy has demonstrated a “nuanced understanding” of how to connect with Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012). McCormick also added that “this approach humanizes politicians” and that using “the same digital spaces and language as Generation Z, closes the generational gap.”
Michael Fahey has worked on multiple campaigns in the past and states that ““American youth don’t care about campaign ads.” He adds that “using social media to create memes shows that you know your audience.”
Fahey says the slogans and promotional products from previous campaigns “don’t even compare to the Harris campaign.” And he adds that “Politicians used to avoid social media at all costs and the thought of becoming a meme would have been their worst nightmare; it’s not like that anymore“.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
