So what if Kamala is big on TikTok? You don’t have to yuck young voters’ yum

In my early 20s, I loudly and obnoxiously declared that I thought all the fuss and pomp for an upcoming royal wedding was over the top and silly. Thankfully, a friend’s mum convinced me otherwise. With so much negativity in the world, she said, why would I diminish people’s enjoyment and joy? It was a lesson I have never forgotten.

Many people are now lambasting the hype and excitement around Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Colloquially, this vibe-kill is referred to as “yucking someone’s yum”. I’d like to challenge those who are finding fault with the many viral moments from her campaign trail to question their motives.

US Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 30, where rapper Megan Thee Stallion performed.Credit: Bloomberg

Melancholy and apathy have beset politics both here in Australia and abroad for some time now. So isn’t it a great thing that people are not only excited by democracy, but inspired by it?

Last week, American author Freddie deBoer, a Marxist with a brilliant brain whose work I usually love (despite being a Liberal myself), joined the Kamala vibe-kill bandwagon, saying the vice president is “acting like she’s running to be President of Online. That’s a huge mistake.”

This was a reference to the reams of Harris-related digital content going viral since the vice president announced her plans to run. It includes coconut tree memes, Charli XCX declaring “Kamala IS brat”, and the VP name-dropping rapper and producer Quavo at a recent rally.

If only some or none of that made sense to you, all you really need to know is that Harris has captured a generation of voters, and they are PUMPED.

If politicians want Gen Z and Millennials to get excited about politics, they have to meet them where they’re at, and that’s exactly what Harris is doing.

In the US, Millennials are the single-largest voting cohort in the country. Combined with Gen Z, Americans born after 1980 now make up 42.4 per cent of the population. In a country where voting is not mandatory (66.8 per cent of eligible Americans voted in the 2020 election, which was a record turnout), speaking directly to that cohort isn’t so much of a stunt as it is a brilliant political strategy. What’s more, meeting them on their platforms and using references they understand – rather than asking them to come to politics – shows a level of respect often not afforded to younger voters.

DeBoer is right in that it would be a poor strategy to design your campaign solely around the youth vote. While polls show Harris getting within a knife’s edge of Donald Trump, those polls are national. And because of the electoral college, they mean squat. The thing that truly matters is how Harris performs in key states like Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. These are places she is unlikely to win over with memes. But just because someone has a good social media team doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.

While superficially it might appear like a flashy campaign heavy on celebrities and light on substance, that isn’t the case. Harris is successfully painting Trump as out-of-touch and “weird”. Her core messages of “freedom” and “future” are landing. And that’s before you get to the fact that she’s a former district attorney running against a convicted criminal.

At a recent rally in Atlanta, Harris honed her message by talking about homeownership, healthcare, childcare, small business, and reproductive rights. Importantly, she also said: “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”

That might sure up the middle, but Harris faces another threat: the left eating itself and not showing up to vote for the first black female president simply because she doesn’t align perfectly with each and every policy position they have. She would do well to keep reminding voters that democracy is about choosing the best candidate, not the perfect candidate, and supporting the person whose politics are closer to yours than the alternative.

Like many, a month ago, I was utterly disheartened by the prospect of a Trump versus Joe Biden election. Such a disappointing re-match felt like it was borderline undemocratic. Nikki Haley (who unsuccessfully ran to be the Republican candidate) rightly said during the primaries that the first party to ditch their 80-year-old candidate will win. I think she is right.

This election is Harris’ to lose. Though her biggest temptation will likely be to placate those in spaces she’s already popular, that’s a natural temptation for all of us. If she can firm the centre and extend her message, there is hope. But to scoff and belittle her campaign for daring to be modern is blatantly ill-informed. It’s unfair to suggest good political strategy is novel fangirling. Because come election day, no matter how clever you think you are, your vote isn’t worth any more than a 20-year-old on TikTok.

Charlotte Mortlock is a former Sky News anchor, and founder of Hilma’s Network, which encourages women to join the Liberal Party.

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