Tahlia Scherer, Editor-in-Chief
@tscherercourant
The months preceding the 2024 Presidential Election have been unusual, to say the least. Yet again, Americans find themselves living amid an election cycle of political turmoil, defined by divisiveness, hatred, and a general loss of hope.
Although the election is less than a month away, the presidential candidates are continuing to find ways to reach Americans, and the rise of social media has provided just that: a new outlet for connection between candidate and citizen right on your personal device.
Both candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are active on social media sites including Instagram, X, and TikTok. These accounts have been utilized by both campaigns in an effort to reach wider audiences.
Although former President Trump has amassed significantly more followers on social media than Vice President Kamala Harris, the Harris-Walz campaign has more effectively utilized these platforms to reach voters.
In the last few months a TikTok account called Kamala HQ, run by Harris’ campaign, has risen to stardom. The account capitalizes on memes, participates in trends circulating the app, and utilizes the app’s short video format to capture the attention of viewers, more specifically, younger voters.
The account has generated some tens of millions of views and has about 4.7 million followers.
Here are some of the accounts most watched videos on the account:
This video is a slide show. The first slide displays a side-by-side photo of former Vice President Mike Pence and Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance with the caption “always ask employers why the position is open.” The second slide is a photo of the January 6th insurrection, which was incited by former President Trump.
This video is a collage of photos, news articles, and debate clips edited to the song, “I Did Something Bad,” by Taylor Swift.
3. 17.2 million views This video is also a slide show. The first slide states, “There are two choices in this election.” The second slide shows a photo of former President Trump with the caption “a convicted felon.” The third slide shows a photo of Vice President Harris with the caption, “a former prosecutor.”
Kamala HQ has used social media virality to further the Harris-Walz campaign, a political strategy that both President Biden and Former President Trump have not utilized as effectively.
In a Times article by Chantelle Lee, she states, “Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has embraced social media trends and viral memes to engage with young voters—a strategy that has propelled her campaign online and set an implicit contrast with the octogenarian she replaced on the ticket and her 78-year-old opponent.”
While Trump has more followers and has posted four Tik Tok videos that have more views than Harris’s most popular video, Harris has almost three times the number of likes. In terms of following and viewership Trump bests Harris, but her virality and ability to generate content that is liked by Tik Tok users far exceeds Trump.
Which is more important to viewers, the quantity or quality of the content posted by these campaigns?
It’s clear that Harris wins in the content department while Trump wins in numbers – he’s able to amass a larger number of followers and views on his videos.
In addition to posts on Tik Tok, the Harris-Walz campaign invited numerous content creators to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held in Chicago. Many of these individuals even gave speeches on stage, furthering the campaign’s efforts to breach a new generation of voters.
It seems Kamala Harris is forging a new path of connection between candidate and voter, a path which I believe will continue to evolve as technology and social media continue to infiltrate our daily lives.
What do you think?
For even more information, check out this article, which compares the social media campaigns of both candidates in even greater detail: https://www.axios.com/2024/10/14/trump-harris-memes-social-media.
