Kamala Harris Joining TikTok Excites Young Indian Americans Who See It as an Outreach to Their Generation
- The Vice President’s eight-second video has since been viewed 5.8 million times, cashing in on the presumptive Democratic nominee’s memes that have ignited social media in the past few days.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, launched her TikTok account yesterday (July 25). The eight-second video she uploaded for her launch has been viewed 5.8 million times, and has reeled in more than 1.1 million followers.
Since President Joe Biden announced that he would no longer be running for re-election and instead endorsed his vice president for the job, the social media platform has been inundated with memes about coconut trees, Brat Summer, and other fawning content related to the vice president.
“I thought would get on here myself,” Harris said in her first video on TikTok, noting how she’s been on the social media platform recently, referring to the widespread attention her nascent presidential campaign garnered this week. Her supporters have been flooding social media with photos and emojis, and are embracing memes and videos that began as a criticism of the vice president. Numerous TikTok users, for instance, created a swarm of humorous videos — including fusing clips from Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ summer trend — featuring Harris.
The New York Times noted that Harris’ arrival on TikTok “is the latest sign of the site’s growing importance for politicians seeking to reach young, highly online audiences.” Although the social media platform has “fewer people on it in the United States than Facebook does, its demographics tilt far more heavily toward people under 35,”The Times report said. Citing a recent Pew Research, the Times also mentioned that “more than a third of the 170 million people on TikTok say they use it to keep abreast of politics and political issues, a considerably higher share than those on Facebook or Instagram.”
According to a new Axios/Generation Lab poll, among 18- to 34-year-olds, Harris has more than triple the lead over Trump (+20%) compared to what Biden had (+6%).
Several young voters told American Kahani TikTok is helping Harris’ campaign, and is encouraging them to get involved in the campaign. Many like Ananya Kulkarni, a rising junior at Boston University, describe the Harris campaign decision to join TikTok as smart. “She knows the fate of the election rests in the younger generation, so she’s catering to their interests.”
Shruti Chakke, a 27-year-old professional from New York City, recently started seeing videos on support for Harris. Along with social media posts and memes, the New Jersey native feels that “the vice president’s time at Howard University and the fact that she’s a part of Alpha Kappa Alpha (D9 sorority) is really helping her cause. Contrasting this is “Trump’s disruptive goals of granting police immunity from persecution is really driving more folks to get involved,” she noted. Chakke also credits the Harris team for it marketing towards new voters on TikTok which seems effective to the newer generation. “You can definitely pick up public sentiment from there.”
@dailymail Kamala Harris shares her FIRST video for her Presidential campaign against Republican nominee President Donald Trump. The video featuring Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ was posted to X and Harris wrote: I’m Kamala Harris, and I’m running for President of the United States.” This comes after Beyoncé gave Kamala Harris permission to use her song ‘Freedom’ for her presidential campaign #kamalaharris #president #uspresident #beyonce #freedom #campaign #2024election
♬ original sound – Daily Mail
Benjamin Kemp loves that Harris has joined TikTok. “It feels like she is actually trying to understand the Gen Z demographic which isn’t something we’ve really seen with presidential candidates before,” the 24-year-old sales professional from Milford, Connecticut, told American Kahani. Harris’ “use of memes is making me and a lot of other young people back her a lot more than we would have.”
Meanwhile, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty told People in a statement that their “job as a campaign is to break through the noise and make sure we’re talking to voters wherever they are,” and TikTok is “one of those landscapes, and we’re leaving no stone unturned.” He feels that getting “the Vice President up on TikTok means she’ll be able to directly engage with a key constituency in a way that’s true and authentic to the platform and the audience.”
Harris’ other social media handles have exploded as well. Her Instagram account has ballooned to 17 million followers, and a post praising President Biden and seeking donations for her campaign racked up 1.6 million views, a significant number for the site. A post announcing her run on the social media site X, meanwhile, has been viewed 14 million times since it was posted on Wednesday night.
Former President Donald Trump is also on TikTok. He debuted an official account in June, and attracted 3 million followers one day, Reuters reported at the time. “The decision to join the platform could help the former president reach younger voters in his third bid for the White House,” the report noted.