'It's a femininomenon'

Polls show Vice President Kamala Harris' early gains with young voters. She's going viral on TikTok. And there are high voter registration numbers. Could this be this generation's "Obama moment?"

*written to the tune of Apple, the Charli XCX song that has taken over the internet with Kamala Harris brat memes*

What a few days/week/month… I spent this week talking with young organizers who weren’t psyched about President Joe Biden’s candidacy but are genuinely amped up about Vice President Kamala Harris. As part of that outreach, I held a virtual listening session on Tuesday night with young voters ages 20-26. They tuned in from locations ranging from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Here are some of the top takeaways:

Gen Z's "Obama" moment

• I'm hearing from a number of young voters (who were not eligible to vote in 2008, 2012, or in some cases 2016) that the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris is their "Obama moment" 

• A rising sophomore at Barnard and an organizer in progressive circles told me: 

"This is monumental as a young Black woman. To me, I feel like this my Obama moment. She can be the first Black, Asian American woman. I am excited. I am hopeful."

• This generation has grown up amid hyper-partisanship and a polarizing political climate. They are psyched by the possibility of hope rather than fear-driven politics for the first time in their political lives

Thoughts on Gaza, representation, abortion access, and LGBTQ rights

In my listening session Tuesday, participants shared why they are uniquely excited about a Harris candidacy in a way they were NOT excited about Biden.

“I’m feeling really energized for the first time in this election,” said a 20-year-old who lives in Washington, D.C.

“I was elated. For five minutes it was the most joy I’ve felt in a minute. Then I got back on Twitter and TikTok and still feel so much weight and pressure around all of the crises,” said a 25-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“My opinion changed. I was not going to vote for Biden. I will vote for Kamala,” said a 19-year-old from New Jersey.

Here are some of the reasons they shared:  

• A perception that Harris is further to the left than Biden on the issue of Israel's war in Gaza, citing the fact that she skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress, her prior calls for a ceasefire, and her emphasis on humanitarian aid to the region

• An appreciation for what she would represent as the first woman, and first Black and Asian American woman (the way this motivates young voters is hugely under acknowledged)

• She's a genuine champion of abortion access and reproductive rights, as well as LGBTQ+ rights. They said she's prioritized these issues throughout her political career

• They like her ‘prosecutorial’ vibe and want to see her debate Trump

Not all gung-ho for Harris

• There was also a right/independent leaning voter on the call who said that while he would have potentially considered voting for an alternative-to-Harris Democratic candidate, given that it looks like Harris will be the nominee, he will likely end up voting for Trump (as he did in 2020) because of the economy, he said

High voter registration numbers

• Vote.org has seen 38,500 new voter registrants since Biden dropped out, most of whom were 34 and under. That's the highest number from this cycle, and even higher than when Taylor Swift posted a link to Vote.org on Instagram in the fall 

TikTok momentum

• The Biden HQ TikTok account struggled to get over 405,000 followers. But the Kamala HQ account is blowing up. They now have over 1.9 million followers

• Their femininomenon post has over 44.4 million views

• The vice president joined TikTok herself last night, and already has 1.5 million followers of her own

Young voters for Harris zoom

• The Harris campaign held a zoom call for young voters last night, led by the campaign’s national youth engagement director, Eve Levenson

• The call featured surrogates like Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost (the youngest and only Gen Z member of Congress), North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton, and Kaya Jones, the Harris’ campaign national deputy director of youth engagement.

• More than 5,000 people signed up for the call, according to a post from Levenson

Young political operatives cut their teeth using Zoom to organize virtually amid the pandemic in 2020… now they have both digital and in person tactics at their fingertips. For example, this weekend, youth voter engagement group Voters of Tomorrow is hosting its annual conference on the ground in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see how and if these virtual and in person events compound in 2024.

More on these dynamics to come, but for now… a look at some early numbers.

Harris makes gains with young voters

Polling following President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race is starting to trickle in (and while it’s still early and while all the caveats about polling of young people hold true) there are signs in the data that young Americans are excited about the candidacy of Kamala Harris.

Yesterday’s NYT/Siena poll has Harris up 18 points over former President Donald Trump amongst registered voters under 30. As always - it’s important to note that the poll was conducted using cellular and landline phones (most young people don’t have landlines and/or aren’t picking up a call from a pollster on their cell).

Screenshot from yesterday’s NYT/Siena poll.

But similarly, a Generation Lab poll shared first with Axios shows Harris with a 20 point lead over Trump amongst 18-34-year-olds. The survey (fielded after Biden dropped out of the race) asked respondents who they would vote for in a Biden/Trump race vs. a Harris/Trump race. Harris performed 7 points better that Biden, and Trump performed 7 points worse when up against Harris vs. Biden.

Screenshot of Generation Lab polling data from Axios.

And a Change Research poll commissioned by Democratic donor Reid Hoffman’s ‘Investing In US’ shows that Harris is up over Trump by 24 points amongst registered voters ages 18-30 in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

As ‘brat’ memes and coconut tree emojis 🥥🌴 flood X (Twitter) feeds, TikTok for you, and Instagram explore pages this week, there’s no denying there’s been a total vibe shift when it comes to youth energy on the left.

A moment on the brat of it all and why “Kamala is brat,” which according to Charli XCX means “that girl who is a little messy” (amongst other things).

The concept of brat — to me — is about embracing “messy” individuality. If you look at Harris’ quote that she’s well known for about existing “in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” you may wonder, “What does that really mean?” It’s up to interpretation… In some ways brat is similar. It’s about celebrating the chaos, and we know this election cycle has been quite chaotic. This all resonates with Gen Z because it’s authentic. On top of that, growing up amid one crisis after the next, young people have embraced this era’s chaos. The vice president has shown that she understands that. She traveled and did a college campus tour, and has said over and over that she loves Gen Z.

I joined Julia Manchester and The Hill TV’s ‘What’s America Thinking’ this week (along with Leaders We Deserve’s David Hogg and Run Gen Z’s Joe Mitchell) to discuss the energy around Harris’ candidacy, how user-generated content is surging in her favor online, and of course, Charli XCX and Chappel Roan.

racheljanfaza

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