It was the summer of the ultimate crossover: brat meets Veep, and Kamala Harris is at the helm, steering a ship that could very well redefine the political landscape. After a fall and spring marked by disillusionment and disengagement among Gen Z voters, Harris’ candidacy is gaining unexpected momentum with young people. She’s tapping into their frustrations and social media psyche with a savvy and responsive campaign, which could lead to a Democratic victory in November.
But even as she galvanizes this new wave of political energy, a key issue looms large—Gaza. The ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli genocide remains a focal point for young liberals, presenting a challenge that Harris will have to navigate, both on the campaign trail and, if elected, in the Oval Office. Furthermore, many are looking for her policy specifics, beyond TikTok memes.
From the start, Harris’ campaign ignited a wave of political engagement, particularly among young voters. The launch of her campaign led to a notable surge in voter registrations in Maine, a state where electoral races are likely to be considerably shaped by young voters according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement’s Youth Electoral Significance Index (YESI). In July alone, 3,793 young Mainers signed up to vote—the largest number since November 2023. Nationwide, the impact was even more stark; 38,500 people registered to vote in the two days after Biden dropped out, representing a staggering 700% spike. More than 80% of these new registrations were among people between the ages of 18 and 34.
Lauren Barton, a 19-year-old from Tennessee, shares, “One of my friends is especially excited. She was going to register to vote, and I feel like this finally pushed her into doing it.” Daijah Wilson, also 19 and from New Jersey, spent this summer registering voters. “A lot of my family members were not going to vote because they felt like it was the same thing again—lesser of two evils,” she said. “Now that Kamala is running, I know a couple of my cousins who have registered to vote, and they said they keep encouraging their friends to vote. … People who were on the fence are now jumping off the fence.”
Suraj Singreddy, a 20-year-old from Georgia, another state that YESI identified as a key battleground where young voters could significantly influence the 2024 presidential race, expressed that a common frustration had been the redundancy of Trump against a moderate white Democrat. “I think in 2016 and 2020 people were tired of being told, ‘Oh, wait for the next election cycle; there’ll be better [candidates] available,’ and then that constantly not being the case.”
The fact that Kamala represents something new—at least, on the surface—is exciting. Claire Sorge, a student at the Hawai‘i Conservatory of Acting, shares, “I’m glad it’s a woman of color. I’m glad it’s not an old white man.”
But Barton brings up that “there’s obviously the huge elephant in the room—her stance on the genocide in Palestine … [but] the idea of our first female president is exciting.”
For young Americans of color, the fact that Harris is multiracial is another factor in her favor. Wilson, who is Black, planned to vote third party when Biden was on the ticket because of his ceaseless support of Israel, but now plans to vote for Harris. She explains, “I don’t think representation is our savior, but it is a move towards progress to see a woman, a Black woman, a multiracial woman, lead this country and be the face of America for the next four years.”
Another break from the democratic electoral monotony of the past several years is simply that Harris is fun in a way Biden and Hillary never were. Whether she’s soliloquizing on Venn diagrams or proclaiming her love for buses, her energy is contagious.” Singreddy believes Harris is finally a candidate with a magnetism that can rival Trump’s. “Trump is entertaining, but in a way that makes you go, ‘Uh… .’ Harris has just been so unintentionally funny … it makes her seem genuine.”
“People are going to vote for the president that they’d want to sit down in a bar with and share a drink with,” he adds.
Charli XCX’s endorsement and the creative team behind Harris’ hugely popular TikTok account, Kamala HQ, which constantly churns out clever content, have captured Gen Z’s spirit of “brat summer.”
Barton explains, “She’s very relevant right now in all of the [TikTok] audios and the memes.” While Barton characterizes young voters’ enjoyment of such memes as partially a humor-based coping mechanism for the fact that Harris’ policies are not ideal, she acknowledges it is genuinely appealing.
Wilson adds, “Trump has a hold on Twitter/X. I feel like Kamala or her team has tried to strategize by taking over the app that actually has a lot more [young voters].” Referring to how Harris’ TikTok videos humanize her, she points out, “We want to see that; it’s about looking past the facade of the politician.”
On the other hand, Harris risks infantilizing and alienating her young voter base if she doesn’t offer them something more substantive to hold on to. Some already feel that relying too much on internet trends and memes could easily become “cringe.” “I feel like it could very quickly turn and become too much, in the same way that ‘Pokémon Go to the polls’ did in 2016,” Singreddy says.
Singreddy also feels that because Harris and her campaign have focused on pushing mostly vibes in their messaging to young voters, it is unclear what Harris’ actual policies are. “Right now, I’m in a place where my interest is piqued, but I still don’t understand exactly who I’m voting for or what her policies are. … I just wonder how she’s going to get that out to people because it’s not as easy as viral trends and memes,” he adds.
Unfortunately for Harris, the issue that young voters seem most aware of is the situation in Palestine and Israel. Wilson, Sorge, Barton, and Singreddy all cite her role in the current administration and its involvement in the ongoing devastation in Gaza as a significant deterrent in voting for her.
Additionally, when Singreddy thinks about the policies he would like to see, he says, “First and foremost, it is trying to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza. After that, it’s the status quo Democrat [policies]: protecting the right to abortion, health care, and general stuff.” Wilson adds that even while she plans on voting for Harris, she will continue attending protests and rallies to push for a cease-fire.
Harris can’t take her Gen Z popularity for granted, and there is a concern that she needs to actually earn the support young voters. “Kamala has a chance [at winning the election], but only if younger people vote for her,” Sorge says.
This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.
This article originally appeared in Yes! Magazine at https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2024/09/18/harris-young-election-voting.
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