Youth vote in the news 2/20
Gen Z's media consumption habits (and mental health woes), an Alex Cooper profile, and tidbits from young Black voters in Detroit.
Happy Tuesday that feels like a Monday.
From key insights on Gen Z’s media consumption habits and mental health woes, a must read profile of Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper, and a dispatch from conversations with young Black (potential) voters in Detroit, here are this week’s headlines:
Young, Black, and Done With Biden: The Issues That Could Decide the Election, Andre Gee for Rolling Stone, 2/20
With an in-depth report on how young Black potential voters are feeling in and around Detroit, Michigan, Gee exposes a palpable sense of dissatisfaction from a group that feels their votes have been taken “for granted” by the Democratic party. While this cohort was key to President Joe Biden’s success in 2020, these young Black Michiganders aren’t gung-ho about supporting him in 2024. They may not love former President Donald Trump either, but they want to see and feel the results of political action — regardless of party affiliation.
From rapper to Icewear Vezzo, who’s 34, to Wayne State University student Ayanna Adams, who’s 29, “Several Detroit-area organizers and politicians tell me the Biden-Harris ticket needs to strengthen its presence within the city and address housing and food insecurity, unemployment, and overall poverty,” Gee writes.
“Aside from Democratic Councilwoman Sheffield and district delegate Shelby, who calls himself a ‘card-carrying Democrat,’ none of the 34-and-younger people I spoke to in Detroit labeled themselves as leftists, liberals, conservatives, or otherwise. I got the sense that those seemed like labels of an ecosystem in which they don’t feel fully considered. They just want someone willing to offer radical change, from whichever side of the aisle,” Gee writes.
The ‘Daddy’ Will See You Now, Jessica Testa for The New York Times, 2/18
Those over 50 may have never heard of her. But the hold Alex Cooper has over a large swath of Gen Z women is incomparable.
In a profile of Cooper and her Gen Z media mogul aspirations, Testa explores how Cooper’s extended her reach from beyond her popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” which started in 2018, to the growth of Unwell, a network that includes podcasts with TikTok queen Alix Earle, reality star Harry Jowsey, and TikTok star Madeline Argy.
“Unwell’s strategy draws partly on personalities like MrBeast (a stunty YouTuber turned food entrepreneur) and partly from the old Hollywood studio system. Unwell cultivates stars, producing their projects — for now, video podcasts — and helps build brands around them. These brands beget merch and, eventually, consumer products,” Testa writes.
Cooper hosted a live tour this fall, and, according to Testa’s reporting — there will likely be more audience engagement down the line.
“I want to produce live events that would make Gen Z want to get off their phones,” Cooper said.
When it comes to politics, President Biden and his team continue to work with influencers to help him reach younger audiences. But as Testa notes, Cooper, “has a strong sense of who makes a good ‘Call Her Daddy’ guest, and it is generally not politicians.”
“‘Go on CNN, go on Fox,’ she said about shutting down conversations with the White House. ‘You want to talk about your sex life, Joe?’” Testa writes about Cooper.
The loneliest generation: Inside the Gen Z mental health crisis, Erica Pandey for Axios, 2/17
In the latest roundup of Gen Z’s mental health woes, Pandey cites data from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation which shows that “just 44% of Gen Zers say they feel prepared for the future.”
"This is the generation that grew up with the internet, and what I'm seeing is a lot of comparison," Alyssa Mancao, a Los Angeles-based therapist who sees Gen Zers, told Pandey. “There are a lot of feelings of inadequacy."
"Across the board, my Gen Z clients are overwhelmed with the uncertainty around unemployment and affordable living," Erica Basso, another California therapist, told Pandey. Though Basso adds there’s reasons for optimism: "They're conscious of their emotions and have less difficulty expressing their emotions than past generations. They're less repressed overall, which is progress," Basso said.
How Gen Z gets its news, Kerry Flynn for Axios, 2/16
In another key report on Gen Z’s media habits, Flynn writes that: ”For Gen Z, catching up on the news is often a side effect of time spent on social media apps like Instagram and, in particular, TikTok — and media outlets are adapting to serve that behavior.”
According to a 2023 Pew survey, Flynn writes, the number of adults under 30 who “regularly scroll TikTok for news” (one-third) is “up 255% since 2020.”
Per Flynn, Her Campus’ Stephanie Kaplan Lewis and Gen Z-focused JUV Consulting’s Ziad Ahmed, “cited TikTok as a search engine for Gen Z, where they can watch multiple points of view, including personal stories, on particular news topics.”
In turn, news outlets like The News Movement and Roca News have adapted to create social-first content and reward based media consumption programs.