Former President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016 — the same year that Musical.ly became TikTok. This means that during the vast majority of his campaign, the app that the candidates now use for funny campaigns, some of us were using to lip-sync Flighthouse audios and embarrass ourselves.
The 2016 and even the 2020 presidential election was nothing like this election year. It’s become a media race, not just a presidential race. And Vice President Kamala Harris is winning.
This summer, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Harris was nominated as the Democratic nominee at the Democratic National Convention. Before she could even rein in the chaos, TikTok users created a storm of memes and soundbites.
She wasn’t even the official nominee when users and supporters were practically campaigning for her. Her laugh alone took over the internet.
While some candidates get offended with how the media treats them, and what types of memes are made, her team leaned into it. And that was exactly what they needed to do.
Some may say it was her work as vice president that gave her a leg up, but I remember when Democrats were upset that she was going to be the nominee. Once she hit the spotlight, her team didn’t hold back. They are now as “TikTok famous” as “KamalaHQ.”
Now and then, as I’m scrolling on the app, I’ll laugh at a TikTok and then realize it’s Harris’ campaign team. It wasn’t normal until this year to actually enjoy a presidential advertisement, but she’s made a name for herself on social media.
She wasn’t even running until July, but with the help of social media stardom, she’s now a strong contender.
She knew going into this race who’s vote she had, and who she needed. Biden didn’t have the favor of younger voters, so she saw what she had to do, and boy, did she do it.
A month before Biden dropped out, he was polling behind Trump with voters between 18 and 26. Now, Harris is polling with a 31-point-lead over Trump with younger voters.
It’s not just TikTok that she’s taking over. Harris faced backlash for not doing interviews until recently. Well, she decided to surprise everyone with a very unique to-do list when it came to how she approached this. While she’s on talk shows, she’s also appearing on influencer’s podcasts.
She went on podcasts and shows including “The Howard Stern Show,” “60 Minutes” and “Call Her Daddy” hosted by Alex Cooper.
This lineup was genius. Howard Stern has received backlash for his vulgar sexist comments, and for making his female guests uncomfortable over the years. Harris going on the show was a show of strength, but also a chance to speak to another demographic.
We hear a lot about the “youth” vote, and the “older” vote. But what about the in-between? She’s stood on the soapbox for women and youth, but she struggles with grabbing other age groups’ attention.
“The Howard Stern Show” promotes advertisement by claiming its audience is “upscale professionals, married, 35–44 years old with a household income of approx. $100,000.” This honestly sounds more like the demographic of Trump voters.
Even if she hates Stern, and even if he hates her, this interview was a great idea.
Harris did a more formal interview with “60 Minutes.” This interview opened up with the Oct. 7th attacks on Israel last year. This was a tough question for this democratic ticket in general. One of their biggest struggles to gain voters comes from our relationship with Israel.
And, of course, she went on “Call Her Daddy”. Everyone was holding their breath with this one, especially her supporters. “Call Her Daddy” is a podcast where Cooper essentially dishes it out with celebrities and discusses sex, so, when this interview was announced, no one knew what to expect.
If Harris went on the podcast and preached about her sex life, it would’ve been campaign suicide. However, she did flip the script, and focused primarily on reproductive rights. Doing this on Cooper’s podcast was a unique out-of-the-box idea.
These interviews serve as an attempt of balancing. It wasn’t just one platform or one type. It was strategic.
Fox News published an article titled “Trump-Vance ticket has done a combined 75 interviews since August compared to 40 for Harris-Walz.” While the numbers look good, how truly effective is it to stick to one audience? It’s not.
Trump has been busy himself. But there are reasons he’s not showing the same “star quality” on social media.
The pretty obvious reason would be his reputation online, especially on Twitter, now known as X. Trump was banned on X and Facebook after the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s hard to campaign on social media when you’re kicked off of it.
With that being said, Trump did the most genius thing he could’ve done: created his own social media platform where he can’t be censored.
It was a smart business move but did little for his political platform.
Truth Social is not a battleground like other sites. It leans towards MAGA republicans, and relentless followers of Trump who don’t want to listen to anyone but him. You can’t campaign to people already following you blindly. In fact, he should be trying to sway voters with how close this election is. Yet, he may be pushing them away.
However, with new X CEO and Trump surrogate, Elon Musk, unbanning the former president’s account, we can expect to see his reach expand.
Trump has created the idea that all other media is biased, persuading his supporters that he is an educated and reliable source. He’s not. He’s made up countless stories and spread an abundance of disinformation and misinformation. Potential supporters see this, and how blindly MAGA republicans follow it. Making the group itself something people don’t want to join out of potentially pure embarrassment.
Campaigning on social media is a prime example of all of the different ways candidates reach out and communicate with voters. It emphasizes the unpredictability of race, especially this one.
If you’re not on a digital medium, it may be harder to distinguish who’s winning. You shouldn’t underestimate the power of a TikTok or an Instagram Reel purely because you alone don’t see them.
Social media is powerful, and now, it’s creating a whole new type of presidential race. It’s extremely important to have a strong presence. Harris is doing that, appealing to a broader audience, targeting exactly who’s votes she needs. Trump is losing this media race, only focusing on his own supporters.
It’s something historians will look to, to show the power new technology has, exactly as they did with the Kennedy v. Nixon debate in 1960.
Just as we’ve seen those black-and-white photos, I can’t wait to see pictures of coconuts in the history books.
