The following article expresses how Gen Z is a vital aspect of Harris's campaigning for the upcoming US presidential elections 2024.
And just like that, boom, Harris is the talk of the nation; Trump is now sharing the spotlight. Scrolling through social media there are remixes with her coconut tree quote and kids putting on sunglasses commenting about Harris in her favor. Her boost in popularity evokes the question of whether her popularity is just a faddish interest or whether she’s everything the country’s been waiting for: the perfect first female president. Via my observations from my phone screen, she’s both. At first a faddish heroine, but now public opinion is developing towards seeing her for what the people want.
I choked on my lunch when the anxiously awaited news spilled of Biden's stepping down and Harris taking his place. That news was a relief to Democrats. Biden did not offer hope, and Democrats had absolutely no enthusiasm in the 2024 elections. Harris’s candidacy was a reassurance and hope, hence the flood of support towards her. Okay, maybe people were unsure whether she was the right replacement. But either way, Democrats pounced on their only other option. The generalized position of youths has been that “she may not be perfect but she’s better than either Trump or Biden.”
Day by day though, posts changed from Biden’s gloomy face to posts with Harris grinning. The positive postings have increased on her politics, as well as personal aspects like her style, past quotes, and character. The increasing supportive feedback amplifies the effect on Gen Z, and increases the support amongst them for her. While Harris’s campaign team targets Gen Z by following trends like “brat summer” (which we appreciate), so do the platforms youths turn to to form a public opinion. Even platforms that initially aren’t about politics. Like Vogue: they’re continuously posting updates about Harris’s politics and style. Sure, this does irritate some viewers because Vogue isn’t “supposed” to be about political news, but I think that lots of youths appreciate the transparent communication for them. Besides, we prefer just scrolling through a post to get updates rather than reading whole news articles.
The Harris marketing targets specifically my generation of young women, first-time voters, and future voters. Herby she is leveraging a population segment completely neglected by former politicians. That attention is new, promising, and engaging. It makes young people feel heard and provides a space to develop their general admiration for her. She’s a figure uplifting their previously neglected political state.
Because Harris empowers the usually neglected populations in politics, public figures, Gen Z content creators, and platforms with a left-leaning audience boost the momentum in her popularity. Teens and young adults are “dancing to every coconut remix I can find.” Having a community that continuously, collectively, and publicly expresses their admiration for a candidate does strengthen a general admiration. So Harris created an identification with and a feeling of empowerment for marginalized communities, such as feminists and women of color. And through that, she has also built a belief in her as a person as well as a political representation: The belief that she will make the previously marginalized voices heard, as well as the belief that those previously marginalized voices will shape history by making her the first black, female president. That momentum won’t stop after the elections. She will still be a figure for the muffled voices to make some noise in history: if she wins she’ll have the pride of those who made her success possible, and if she loses, she’ll have the same people advocating for her in the next elections, when she is likely to run again.
Unlike the status of the elections with Biden in play, Republicans will have to consider Harris’s rising popularity not only in the 2024 presidential election, but for likely future elections as well.
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