Youth vote in the news (and join me in my subscriber chat)
Youth vote in the news (and join me in my subscriber chat)
A pro-Trump bump on TikTok, Biden's pro-Democracy message may not be reaching young voters, and Gen Z candidates' success in Georgia's primaries.
Hi everyone! I can’t believe this weekend marks the official start of summer. What better way to celebrate than by joining me in my subscriber chat where I’m answering all your biggest youth vote questions.
As I posted in the chat yesterday, I’m going to start checking in there regularly. I’d love to use the space to get to know you all. I’m hoping it can serve as an open forum for discussion and a place where you’ll share suggestions for coverage: topics you think I should tackle, formats I should try, or people I should interview.
The goal of The Up and Up is to give you insights and takeaways about how young Americans are thinking and feeling ahead of November — so please reach out with any questions, big or small. Starting now… AMA (ask me anything).
Youth vote in the news 05/24 🗞
The Increasing Trumpification of TikTok, Anjali Huynh for The New York Times, 05/23
First, when did “Trumpification” become a word? I digress.
An internal analysis at TikTok found there have been ~2x as many pro-Trump posts on TikTok as pro-Biden posts since November. This comes after former president Donald Trump toyed with banning the Chinese-owned app during his first term in office. Since then, internet culture has shifted, with members of the young right leaning into Trump’s meme-like style humor online, including on TikTok. Though Trump himself isn’t on TikTok, as Huynh notes, “he may not need to be, as his allies and surrogates transform it in his favor.”
My high level takeaway: In circles I’m a part of, this pro-Trump bump on TikTok isn’t all that shocking. Some friends have gone so far to say it’s no longer considered “cool” to talk about Democratic politicians, and they’ve noticed this online too…
Biden’s base isn’t as freaked out as he might want them to be, Philip Bump for The Washington Post, 05/22
The Biden team has sought out to draw a stark comparison between President Joe Biden and former President Trump since the launch of his campaign last year. This has included showing how the president and his opponent differ on key issues for young people like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun control.
Broadly, folks in Biden world have made a concerted effort to pitch the president as a preserver of Democracy, while they paint Trump as an alternative to our small “d” democratic status quo.
But as Bump writes in an analysis of Yahoo News-YouGov data collected May 10-13, that message may not have as much pull with young voters as the campaign is hoping it would. According to Bump’s analysis, as shown in the graphs above and below, “younger and non-white voters are less likely to express concern about democracy or express anxiety about the election.”
Gen Z’s night in Atlanta — and other takeaways from Georgia’s general primary election, Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon for Atlanta Civic Circle, 05/22
On Tuesday, Georgia held its primaries for the 2024 presidential election.
Marazzi Sassoon writes it plain and simple: “It was Gen Z’s night on Tuesday: All but one of the youngest cohort of statehouse candidates cruised to victories in metro-Atlanta.”
Those victorious candidates include democratic socialist Gabriel Sanchez (who won his primary against incumbent state Rep. Teri Anulewicz), as well as Morehouse alum and 7th grade teacher Bryce Berry, software engineer Ashwin Ramaswami, and disability advocate Madeline Ryan Smith.
Today marks 2 years since the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas
It’s been two years since the tragic mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In turn, I’m thinking of Jazmin Cazares, who I spoke with in March after she attended the State of The Union with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Cazares’ 9-year-old sister Jackie was killed at the Robb Elementary School in 2022.
Since losing her sister, Jazmin’s been outspoken about the need to end gun violence — working with gun violence prevention and voter engagement organizations like March For Our Lives, March Fourth, Change the Ref, Voto Latino, and Newtown Action Alliance. She also started the organization ‘Jackie’s Loving Hands’ in her sister’s memory.