How Trump and Harris are courting young voters in Georgia

ATLANTA — Podcasts. Influencers. TikTok videos. Rallies at college campuses. Concerts with Gen Z pop stars.

With the presidential race seemingly a jump ball, the campaigns of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris are scrambling to reach young voters in Georgia — and beyond — as they head into Election Day. And they are meeting them on the digital platforms and places they go.

As of Oct. 30, 445,000 voters age 18-29 have cast a ballot in Georgia. That doesn’t include the last two days of early voting. At the same point in the early voting period in 2020 — the last Wednesday before Election Day — 448,000 in the age group had voted.

According to the most recent voter registration data, more than 675,000 voters age 18-29 have registered to vote since the 2020 election.

The campaigns’ strategies and targets were apparent in two different podcast appearances.

Trump sat down on Oct. 25 for an interview with Joe Rogan, who hosts a podcast that is wildly popular, especially with young men.

During the wide-ranging 3-hour talk, Trump and Rogan bonded over their love of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — Rogan was a color commentator for the mixed martial arts league, and Trump has sat cage side at matches.

Trump suggested that some fighters had stayed in the arena too long.

“If they had stopped a little bit sooner, they (would have) had the perfect record,” he said.

Harris chose “Call Her Daddy” — Spotify’s most popular podcast for women, hosted by Alex Cooper, whose conversations frequently focus on sex and relationships. Harris outlined her support for abortion rights, but the vice president also reflected on the lessons she learned from her mom. “A lot of it was also about her teaching us that we had agency; that things don’t just happen to you,” Harris said.

The conversations offered a more intimate glimpse into each candidate’s personality that viewers don’t typically get from traditional media outlets covering elections.

And, for some in Georgia, it’s working.

“I love the questions and how personable she seems,” Taylor Winter Wilson, a 30-year-old Fayetteville resident, said about Harris’ podcast appearances.

“I think it’s allowing viewers, voters, potential voters to see a side of her that they haven’t seen from her as the vice president,” Wilson said. “She’s still somewhat reserved, but I think she’s sharing a lot more than we’ve ever seen from her.”

‘You have to go where the voters are’

Gen-Z and millennial voters make up nearly half this year’s eligible voting population. It’s why Jacquelyn Harn, chair of the Georgia Young Republicans, said securing their support can make a substantial difference.

Harn, 25, worked as a regional field director in Savannah for the 2020 Trump campaign. She said the former president is doing a better job of engaging with younger voters this go-round. Along with creating a TikTok account, Trump has embraced the manosphere of streamers and YouTubers — such as Adin Ross, Andrew Schulz and Theo Von — who attract large audiences of young men by talking about topics such as video games.

Each of those conversations garnered over 1 million views, with Von’s totaling over 14 million viewers. Rogan’s Trump interview has clocked tens of millions of listeners.

“You’re not just going on Fox News all the time, right,?” Harn said. “You’re going on a podcast with the Nelk Boys. You’re talking to Theo Von, which is reaching those 18-to-25 males who, for the most part, tend to probably lean a little more conservative, but they’re just not tapped into.”

Harn said that demographic “is not really encouraged or motivated to get involved or to vote initially.”

“But given the circumstances of inflation, then having President Trump interact with platforms and with streaming services, with podcasts that they listen to, it’s a double whammy,” she said.

Trump’s appeal to young men, who’ve been shifting further right politically, partly lies in his economic plan, which includes cutting taxes, said Dontè Thompson, executive director of Georgia Young Republicans. It’s why the group has homed in on that demographic in its outreach.

“We’re going to every spot where we see young men: the gym, college campuses, sporting events, barber shops, gun ranges,” he said. “We stop, we talk to them, we invite them to our chapter meetings.

For the 37-year-old, Trump’s strategy in reaching young male voters via podcasts and social media is helping to boost that appeal.

“You have to go where the voters are.”

‘Kamala is brat’

It didn’t take long after Harris announced her presidential run for the memes to start. The most notable one came from British dance-pop artist Charli XCX, who posted “Kamala is brat.” “Brat” refers to the superstar’s blockbuster album of the same name, which took on a life of its own on social media this summer. For Charli XCX fans, having a “Brat” summer meant being yourself, unapologetically.

Harris’ campaign quickly embraced the support by posting “Brat” memes and using its signature neon green color and black typeface. Since then, Harris has further immersed herself in pop culture conversations partnering with musicians (who generally tend to lean Democratic). She’s also appeared on other nontraditional media platforms such as “The Shade Room” (a popular gossip blog that caters to Black audiences) and “All the Smoke” (a podcast hosted by former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes) in an attempt to court young Black male voters

“I feel like who they’re choosing to talk to, how they’re representing her on social media, how they’re drawing in young voters is refreshing in a way that I’ve never experienced as a 30-year-old,” Wilson said.

Harris has also reaped the benefits of supporters on social media who have transformed comments Republicans were using to paint her as flaky — “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” — into a wave of viral memes.

Her random laugh-out-loud moments resonate with social media users because she’s simply being herself, said Franklin Young, communications chair for Red Clay Democrats, a group that helps energize young professionals for Georgia elections.

“I think even before she was vice president, Harris always had that kind of more candid quality,” the 29-year-old said. “She wears the Chuck Taylors. I think that’s always been a part of her — not just brand, but personality. So in a lot of ways, your race reflects you as a person.”

At recent Atlanta rallies, artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Quavo and Usher have performed and/or spoken in support of Harris. The day before joining Harris’ latest rally in Atlanta on Oct. 19, Usher partnered with Headcount, a nonpartisan organization that teams with musicians and festivals to reach young voters.

Ahead of Usher’s show at State Farm Arena, volunteers from the group informed concertgoers about how to find their voting locations and requesting an absentee ballot. Lucille Wenegieme, Headcount’s executive director, said the group has registered about 100,000 young voters over the past month.

So far this year, the group has toured with over 100 artists across the country — a record number.

“I would say what’s different about this election is that young people really took that conversation and ran on social media in particular,” Wenegieme said.

Beyond Nov. 5

Maintaining the connection with young voters means interacting with them even after Election Day. If Trump is elected, Thompson knows it’s going to take more than just him to continue to energize younger generations.

“It’s really up to the Republican Party to keep that momentum going and thinking about the future of our party to make sure that everyone feels they are welcome,” he said.

For Young, whoever is elected will have to mimic a strategy similar to that of former President Barack Obama, who continues to spark online discourse by posting his music playlists and NCAA brackets.

“I think every subsequent president has had to kind of answer that question, ‘Do I keep engaging through social media and other platforms? Do I make it more traditional?’ And I think if you’re smart, you keep doing it year-round. You know, it’s not just a one-off thing.”

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