'One of my fears is us getting lost in the memes': A pre-DNC listening session highlights young voters' hunger for policy
'One of my fears is us getting lost in the memes': A pre-DNC listening session highlights young voters' hunger for policy
Last night's listening session with 7 young voters was my 1st since Tim Walz joined Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket. They said he helped "explode" youth energy, but crave info on the issues.
I held a listening session last night with seven young voters ages 18-27 from seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Washington. It was my first since Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joined Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket as her vice presidential pick.
All seven of the young voters are politically involved (two either hold elected office or are running for a seat) and work to engage other young people in their home states. Ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention, I found their insights especially compelling. They all plan to vote for Harris. But before they do so, they’re looking for her to be clear about the issues she stands for (today’s economic announcement is a start).
Here’s some of what they had to say:
On energy
“It’s impossible, in my opinion, to understate how much the change at top of the ticket helped youth energy. But my shock was how much Tim Walz exploded that even more,” said Nick Roberts, 24 and a city councilman in Indianapolis, Indiana (the second-youngest to ever serve on the city council).
“I saw people that were apolitical sharing the picture of him with the pig, or little funny things he did. There’s heartwarming moments too. I love the anecdote people have talked about of him as a football coach in the 90’s when he was the chapter [advisor] of the gay straight alliance. I think that’s very relatable for people to have that teacher, that was the comfort person for them.”
Roberts told the group last night that he considers himself to be relatively moderate, especially in comparison to the group in conversation last night. Most of the others on the call shared progressive ideologies.
📲 Btw, Walz posted his first TikTok today, joining Harris and the campaign on the platform. In a video with his dog Scout, Walz said he likes to refer to the platform as "TimTok."
On policy
Mussab Ali, who’s 27 and running for mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, previously served as president of the Jersey City Board of Education (at 20, he was the youngest-ever elected official in the city). Last night, he told me he’s looking for Harris to distinguish herself from President Joe Biden. "I don’t think we’ve seen any major shift,” he said.
“What is she addressing, and what is she going to fight for? We know that she’s the Vice President under President Biden. But does that mean there’s any difference or any daylight?,” Ali asked.
The topic of Israel’s war in Gaza and Palestinian rights came up quite a few times at the start of the session as an area where the vice president could perhaps differentiate her position from that of Biden’s - which for these young (mostly) progressives, they said, is a concern. “Particularly on the Palestine issue, is she going to come out with a different stance than the current president?,” Ali said.
(It’s worth noting, however, that while the topic of Israel and Gaza came up immediately on the call as a place where the young voters believe Harris needs to be clear-eyed and direct with voters about her position, including how and if it differs from Biden’s, they didn’t list the war as one of the top issues motivating them to vote in November when I asked what was toward the end of the call — instead focusing on domestic issues. More on that in a bit.)
Voters on the call also articulated an appreciation for Walz’s progressivism. I pushed back on that a bit and noted that in order for the Democrats to win in November, Harris and Walz would hypothetically need as broad a coalition as possible. I asked how they would square Harris leaning further to the left with the potential of alienating voters in the middle, and thus jeopardizing the election overall. They didn’t mince words — saying that she needs to be more than just anti-Trump and cautioned against fixating too much on the momentum online.
“I think in a second we are going to get people who are going to pivot from just being anti-Trump to wanting to really lock in on a candidate that they believe in,” said Brandy Star Merriweather, who’s 25 and from Atlanta, Georgia. Merriweather was at Harris’ Atlanta rally featuring Megan Thee Stallion in July.
"One of my fears is us getting lost in the memes," Merriweather said of her top concern pre-November. "I'm seeing a lot more anti-the-other-party voters... I want to make sure that people my age and younger are understanding that politics isn't just an 'anti' game."
“[Harris’s] going to have to communicate exactly what these policies are going to look like,” she said.
"When it comes to Kamala, you have to have branding around something except 'We’re not the party of Trump,'" Ali said. "Democrats for a long time have had a branding problem of like what do Democrats stand for. One of the big things we know we stand for is that we’re pro-choice. But aside from that, I feel like Democrats are very divided.”
Meanwhile, Maekyla Massey, who’s 18 and from Nassau County, New York, said she appreciates the fact that Walz “embodies a lot of the values that people in middle class America embody as well.”
“A lot of the people in the middle class, those are the types of moderate voters, independent voters, who can lean either way,” she said. Speaking about Harris and Walz, she said: “While they both have really progressive values, yeah that’s true, and a progressive record, it can’t be denied, when I think of progressive, I think of people who are way more progressive than Kamala and Tim.”
On character
I’ve been crowd sourcing questions to ask groups of young voters, and last night, one of those was: “What personal traits would you like to see in a presidential candidate?”
💬 On that note, if you have a suggested question - lmk!! 💬
Riley Reed, who’s 24 and from Chicago, Illinois, said she’s looking for a candidate who’s “for the people.”
Malik Davis, who’s 19 and goes to Norfolk State University, an HBCU in Virginia, said “charisma.” As a creator, he appreciates that Harris is leaning into TikTok culture. “Being on TikTok doing these little trends and stuff is showing that.”
Mae Cramer, who’s 22 and from Seattle, Washington, said “relatability.” She added that she would like to see the campaign “capitalizing on the family aspects… like her being a stepmom, I think is a really unique position.”
Other traits listed were:
"Someone who's not a convicted felon"
"Someone who is consistent... Someone who doesn’t mind speaking clearly"
"Vibrant and lively... joyful, youthful"
On issues
To round out our discussion, I asked what issues are motivating the young people to vote.
Reed, who’s a gun safety advocate, said progress on gun violence prevention and climate. “We have a lot of progress made with the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, but that office will only continue to exist if we have a certain candidate elected again,” she said. “Same goes with climate. Any progress that we want made on climate and things getting better, I think will only be better with Harris in office.”
Cramer listed women’s and LGBTQ rights.
Merriweather said “dismantling systemic racism” along with “inflation” and “rent prices.”
Ali said “housing.”
Along those lines, when it comes to communicating her policy proposals to voters, Harris has just started to do so - rolling out her economic platform today, for example. One of the proposals speaks directly to an issue raised by young voters I’ve spoken with across the country (including this group) - housing affordability (or inaffordability, actually). Harris’ agenda includes supporting first-time home buyers by granting $25,000 each to help alleviate the cost.
Are you ready for it?
The Swifties for Kamala coalition is holding its first national organizing call on Tuesday August 27. The group says it’s already had 13,000 sign ups. An organizer with the group told me to expect in-person voter activations in addition to the very online presence they’ve started to cultivate. If it’s any indication, the group’s X (twitter) account shared a post saying there will be a “friendship making booth at the DNC convention.”
I’ll bring you updates from the ground… stay tuned!
Polling proves a Harris youth bump
Beyond the qualitative data, a flood of new polling proves that the online momentum behind Harris is reflect in IRL voter sentiment. My latest piece for Teen Vogue breaks down some of the biggest insights from a recent polling conducted by the likes of NextGen America and Impact Research, ’s SocialSphere, and the America In One Room initiative.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
An overall spike in youth enthusiasm
Harris is winning over the “double haters”
She’s reaching key blocs (18-24, students, Black voters)
Massive support from young women
Vote motivation is up for both D’s and R’s
There’s room for cross-partisan consensus
I’ll be in Chicago at the DNC next week — if you’ll be there too, please reach out! I’d love to meet. As always, keep the story ideas and youth vote insights coming.