By Harry Gustafson
Boston University News Service
When President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, some were relieved. Questions about Biden’s age have been a concern since his 2020 campaign.
Biden’s performance in the June presidential debate against former President Donald Trump exacerbated these concerns, as some believed Biden was unfit to run for the presidency again.
Some of these concerns were revealed when Vice President Kamala Harris announced her candidacy as the new Democratic nominee. But the question remains: does Harris carry enough appeal to young voters in a way that will propel her to victory in November?
Charli XCX
Summer 2024 will be remembered as “brat summer,” a reference to the album British pop star Charli XCX released in June. This became a huge cultural reference point — spawning a slew of singles from the album, a legion of memes, a sea of lime green outfits and an almost inescapable cultural movement that has outlasted summer.
That’s why it was a huge cultural victory for Harris when a few days after stepping into the candidacy, Charli tweeted three simple, yet impactful, words:
“kamala IS brat”
“Brat” is what everyone wanted to be, and to have the very public figure who popularized the term apply it to a candidate served as a massive endorsement. The July tweet has had a lasting presence, with a direct reference in a Saturday Night Live sketch from the show’s 50th season premiere in late September, in which Bowen Yang impersonated Charli XCX running a talk show.
Coconut Tree
Even before Charli XCX’s endorsement, Harris already had her own meme-ability, resulting from a sound bite from a speech she gave at the White House in May 2023.
“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree,” she said with a chuckle and a brief sigh. “You exist within the context of everything and everyone who came before you.”
During this speech, Harris was referring to how young people often become isolated from their cultural backgrounds and how it is important to bridge the gap between generations, quoting a rhetorical question her mother would often ask.
The internet was flooded with this clip, popularizing it as a sound on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
After Harris announced her candidacy, the clip from the White house and references to brat began to be circulated once again.
But a meme’s popularity is not directly translatable to establishing credibility in the meme’s subject. After all, can we say that people are laughing with Harris and not at her?
Taylor Swift’s Endorsement
After the September presidential debate, the first time Harris faced off Trump, Taylor Swift shared a post to her Instagram account where she endorsed Harris, citing the vice president’s stance on reproductive rights as a major factor towards her vote.
Swift has a massive fan base, evidenced by the high-ticket demand for her stadium tours and near constant presence on Billboard charts. Since her rise to fame, she has regularly been depicted as “America’s sweetheart.”
She has also become more politically vocal in the past few years, having typically endorsed Democrats, including Biden in the 2020 election. In her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, she said she “need[s] to be on the right side of history” in a discussion with her father regarding why she refused to support an anti-LGTBQ congressperson in Tennessee.
Her opposition to Trump is clear. In 2020, Swift shared a tweet saying, “we will vote you out,” referring to Trump’s candidacy in the past election.
Her endorsement came after a political campaign ad released in August, in which her image was used nonconsensually to endorse Trump. After Trump shared an AI-generated image of Swift falsely endorsing him, the singer felt moved to counter with her actual endorsement of Harris.
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” the former president shared in a post on Truth Social following Swift’s endorsement.
But do these pop endorsements convey any actual sway in terms of concrete votes, or do they only serve as distractions from policy? There remain concerns as to whether Harris will be able to inspire young voters.
Influencing Gen Z
Gen Z has been a politically active generation, with social media serving as a huge platform for younger voters to discuss political issues. This is a contrast from past years since historically, citizens aged 18-29 are least likely to vote in elections.
A study conducted by Tufts University’s Tisch College revealed that Gen Z voters had the highest-ever turnout of 18-29-year-olds during the 2022 midterm elections. However, even that turnout made up only 31% of eligible voters under 30, a small amount compared to the 60% turnout that baby boomers had.
Because of the historical lack of political involvement, receiving support from younger voters is crucial to gaining influence in the upcoming election.
A recent poll by National Public Radio estimates that Harris has a substantial lead over Trump in youth support, with 61% of respondents supporting Harris and 30% supporting Trump. This is a notable increase compared to the difference between Biden and Trump during the 2020 election.
However, it’s the policies she shares with Biden that concern voters, especially young voters; notably her promise to continue supporting Israel in its military conflict against Hamas in Gaza. 51% of 18-29 year-olds that were polled support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, revealed a study by Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
Can hordes of politically motivated fans of Taylor Swift and Charli XCX give Harris the edge in what polling indicates will be a tight election? It remains to be seen how much sway celebrity endorsements will have in the upcoming election.