One mistake that could cost Kamala Harris US election

Kamala Harris has been working hard to appeal to younger voters. But a step too far could cost her.

Kamala Harris has been working hard to appeal to younger voters. But less than three weeks out from the US election, an expert has warned a step too far could cost the Democratic presidential nominee her shot at the White House.

For the past three months, the Vice President’s campaign has been homing in on young voters, with her social media full of memes and witty TikTok videos as she enthusiastically rides the waves of ‘brat summer’ to the soundtrack of Beyonce’s Freedom.

In a surprise move, the 59-year-old, who has earned endorsements from Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, even appeared on the wildly popular Call Her Daddy podcast earlier this month - which boasts a huge base of young female listeners.

Overall, the strategy seems to be working.

According to the Fall 2024 Harvard Youth Poll, released late last month, Harris holds a 31-point lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump among likely voters aged 18 to 29.

The poll, based on a survey of 2,002 Americans aged between 18 and 29, found Mr Harris leading Mr Trump 64 per cent to 32 per cent among likely voters in a two-way hypothetical scenario.

More broadly, a report by the Pew Research Center, published last week, found voters under the age of 50 are more likely to prefer Ms Harris over Mr Trump - 50 per cent to 41 per cent.

Harris holds a 31-point lead over Trump among likely voters aged 18 to 29. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP

“Her campaign is a lot of fun,” Australian National University marketing lecturer Dr Andrew Hughes, who specialises in political marketing and advertising, told news.com.au.

“We’ve needed this for so long in US politics. It can be very, very serious, very negative, very emotive driven …. But (politicians) need to be relatable, and that includes having a good sense of humour, and I think she’s doing that really well.”

For Ms Harris, targeting young people is not surprising given the high rate of identification with the Democratic party among young voters, said Dr Hughes.

An April 2024 report by the Pew Research Centre, found about 66 per cent of voters ages 18 to 24 associate with the Democratic Party.

“They’re also easier to target because of social media, where the cost is lower,” Dr Hughes explained.

“Social media is also more consistent with Kamala Harris’ own brand. She’s still below 60, so she can target these people in a way which is not seen to be taking advantage of their profile or their use of the social media platform. It’s something you’d expect her to do, and less so Donald Trump, for example.”

Memes in particular, have been an effective tool in the 59-year-old’s social media campaign.

“Memes are really good at shareability factor and making a bit of fun of yourself in a nice, positive way or constructive way,” said Dr Hughes. “It adds more light and likability to the candidate to get people to vote for you and engage with you.

“And in America, it’s all about engagement. The deeper the engagement with the politician and the brand, the more likely you are to turn out and vote for that person.”

Dr Andrew Hughes said young voters are easier to target thanks to social media.. Picture: Supplied/ANU

But Dr Hughes warned Ms Harris’s own strategy could be her downfall if taken too far.

Earlier this month, the Vice President’s surprise appearance on Call Her Daddy copped backlash, with one critic saying her interview with host Alex Cooper was “trying to make her look ‘Gen Z’.”

Fans also lashed Cooper herself for not addressing the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, or illegal immigration, which has emerged as one of the key issues in the looming presidential election.

It came amid criticism Harris had been avoiding tough interviews following a “softball” media blitz in recent weeks.

Vice President Kamala Harris sat for an interview with Alex Cooper on the sex-positive Call Her Daddy podcast.

In light of the backlash, Dr Hughes warned the Democratic presidential nominee needs to walk a fine line when trying to appeal to younger people, who can be more cynical of politics.

“Harris needs to recognise that there’s still a very negative attitude towards politics in most western democracies, particularly by people who are younger, because they no longer trust messaging,” said Dr Hughes.

“People could go ‘Hey, come on. Call Her Daddy really? Is that about you or about you trying to get to me?’ The moment people question that, it immediately puts a question mark over all your future communication methods or efforts you do and you lose that credibility factor.”

Over exposure could cost her, he warned.

“Her big risk here of doing this strategy is going too hard and too far. Even though the younger market may all use devices and have social media accounts, it doesn’t mean I want to see you on my feed.”

Dr Hughes likened the risky strategy to stretching a rubber band.

“The more you stretch it, the closer you get to the breaking point and when you hit the breaking point, you can’t put it back together. It’s hard to rebuild that trust and that faith.”

He noted other politicians have been met with criticism when trying to appeal to young voters, including UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer.

“Keir Starmer was a bit heavy on social media at one stage and he received the same thing, (people were saying) ‘you’re not young Keir, you’re older and you’re now the prime minister, so you’re the government’,” he said.

“So you’ve got to pull it back, you’ve got to (consider) why you’re on social media and what’s this method doing? What’s this strategy doing? What’s this actual individual message doing in itself?’”

Harris needs to walk a fine line when trying to appeal to younger people, Dr Hughes warned. Picture: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP

Turning off older votes

As for Ms Harris, another risk she runs is turning off older voters, who already historically tend to lean Republican.

“A really interesting question now for Ms Harris is that if she goes too young on social media, then she has a disconnect with the older market. And those people might go,

‘Well, hang on, if you now can’t come back to me and say, you relate to me. You just said that about younger people. You can't relate to all of us the same way’.”

Dr Hughes said Ms Harris’s pick in Tim Walz – a 60-year-old governor, former teacher, and veteran – as VP could help win over older generations, leaving her campaign to focus more on appealing to youth.

“Tim Walz appeals to an older profile and could pick up a bit of that gap, but still, at the end of the day, he’s vice presidential candidate, he’s not the presidential candidate,” Dr Hughes warned.

“There’s still enough of a gap for Donald Trump to seize that opportunity and then use that to leverage off to win power.”

Last week’s report by the Pew Research Center found those aged 50 and older prefer Mr Trump over Ms Harris - 52 per cent to 46 per cent.

Tim Walz was a public school teacher and National Guardsman. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty/AFP

With the election looming, Dr Hughes has a simple piece of advice for Ms Harris – “pull back”.

“I can understand why she’s using social media because it’s very cheap … But I would advise her to pull it back and be more cautious and strategic with how she’s does the younger market targeting through social media platforms.”

“Don’t have content out every day of the week … don’t try and be over the top.”

Instead of trying to relate to young people, he suggested Ms Harris and other politicians should focusing on showing an understanding of the issues they face.

“You’re running for the most powerful positions on planet Earth, you probably have lots of money in your bank account. You don’t relate to younger people.”

“The better thing to do is show through your policy announcements on social media that you’ve listened to them.

“If she does that and shows that social media, she’ll win a lot more people over than doing a podcast.”