Disapproval of President Joe Biden’s administration has triggered a shift in the once strong political allegiance of Gen Z-ers to the Biden campaign, worsened by the panic that struck the Left following the first presidential debate in June.
“The two candidates were both 80-year-old white men—that’s not our country,” said NYU student Joshua Kenny, 21, who, like many his age, has considered abstaining from voting in November. “I didn’t feel hopeful about the outcome of the election, no matter what was going to happen. It made me a little intimidated about what our country could become.”
In 2020, Former President Donald Trump stood before an empty stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During his campaign trail, about a million young social media users RSVPed to one of his rallies with no intention of attending. The TikTok stunt was part of a mass movement across media platforms to help Biden defeat Trump in the race for the presidency. Hundreds of influencers dedicated their pages to educating their followers and hosted online events to garner support, united in a mission dubbed Gen-Z for Change, formerly TikTok for Biden. Estimates indicate that half of those aged 18-29 voted in the 2020 presidential election. An 11-point increase from 2016, it was likely among the highest youth voter turnout rates since the voting age was lowered to 18.
Today, the coalition that before had propelled Biden to victory has yet to endorse his reelection. Disaffected young voters have taken to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to express their upset with the current government, touching on the war in Gaza, Biden’s perceived climate inaction, and attempts to institute a nationwide TikTok ban. Several top left-leaning content creators have posted anti-Biden content that has drawn tens of millions of views.
The first presidential debate further reinforced concerns that Biden’s age makes him an unfit candidate. A viral two-minute video posted by popular Youtuber and make-up artist James Charles slammed Biden’s performance in the debate, calling him an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and condemning the state of American democracy as “f*cked beyond belief.” At over 3.5 million likes, it seemed to reflect a general consensus amongst Gen-Zers following the debate, with resounding agreement flooding his comments.
To vote or not to vote
Such adamant discontent and waning faith in the current government triggered discussions among young voters about potentially “throwing away” their vote, either by voting for a third party or refusing to vote at all. Many resigned themselves to becoming single-issue voters with only one agenda: the preservation of democracy. Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a lifelong Republican and staunch critic of Trump announced in May that he would back Biden over Trump.
“This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass,” Duncan wrote in an op-ed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Kenny similarly expressed that his decision in November would not be a vote for Biden himself: “I’m voting against something rather than for something.”
“It’s Joever”
Biden renounced himself as the expected Democratic nominee on July 21 following a disastrous debate that, for many, reinforced months of concern that his age might make him unfit.
“There is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. But there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now,” said Biden when he addressed the nation on Wednesday.
He has publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place, calling on Democrats to donate to her campaign. Harris raised a record-breaking $81 million from hundreds of thousands of contributions in just the first 24 hours of announcing her bid for the presidency, more than half of whom were first-time donors.
Gen Z Voting Power
Almost 41 million Gen Z-ers will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election, over eight million more than in 2020. The youth are a critical voting bloc that the Pew Research Center reported is “the leading edge of the country’s changing racial and ethnic makeup.” A diverse electorate of 8.8 million Latinos, 5.7 million Black youth, 1.7 million Asian Americans and 1.8 million multiracial youth, nearly half of the millions of eligible Gen Z-ers will be people of color, according to Tufts University. Youth people of color will have considerable influence, particularly in the South and the West, making up 51 and 60 percent of newly eligible voters since 2020, respectively.
A post-election report released to NPR after the midterm elections in 2022 showed that the younger generation relies primarily on social media rather than traditional news outlets. 57 percent of Gen Zers turn to TikTok for news and current events, compared to 22-25 percent using major and cable news networks.
Biden himself hailed Gen Z content creators as the “new media” and pledged to keep them informed when he took office in 2021. His efforts to fortify a relationship with influencers were stalled by speculation that the White House only courted those who supported Biden and blocked those who were critical of the administration. The influencer approach, however, has remained in the party.
Kamala IS Brat
The Harris campaign marketing strategy so far has capitalized on her “meme-ability” to boost her appeal to young voters, embracing, for example, the “brat” trend, a reference to singer Charli XCX’s hit album. New polling data from this week by CNN (Trump +3), The Wall Street Journal (Trump +2) and The New York Times/Sienna College (Trump +1) seems to reflect a renewed support for the Left as Harris narrows the six-point lead Trump built since the first presidential debate.
“I didn’t want to vote for [Biden] but I knew I needed to…Now I want to vote for Kamala,” said a young Wisconsinite progressive in an interview with MSNBC.
Shreya Wankhade, 21, has worked year-round to register voters since 2022 and has registered many young new voters in the past few weeks who she says are eager to vote in the upcoming election. HeadCount, a non-partisan organization, uses popular culture to encourage participation in the democratic process, setting up stands at concerts including Green Day, The Killers, and that of some of its founding members, the Grateful Dead. It will also be present at tours for Olivia Rodrigo and Harry Styles.
“After working with an organization that focuses on registering people to vote, it feels like a real privilege to even be able to vote and have the accessibility to vote,” said Wankhade. This will be the first presidential election she is eligible to vote in. “I would’ve loved to vote in the last election, and I’m feeling super lucky that I’ll be able to vote in this one.”
The election in November will represent a new age of voting dominated by the youth. Register to vote in your state using the following link: https://vote.gov/.
