Fri Aug 2

How Kamala Harris’ meme-fied campaign is leveraging social media and Gen Z culture

Written by: Ava Kalinauskas, Research Associate, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney

Last week, presumptive US Democratic nominee Kamala Harris delivered ^[1] one of the most important messages of her presidential campaign so far:

I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the ‘For You’ page, so I thought I would get on here myself.

She wasn’t speaking to a typical crowd of supporters at a campaign rally, or to journalists at a White House press conference – but to an audience of 20 million TikTok users.

Following President Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance ^[2] in early June, Harris has ignited an explosion of memes and viral content online.

And with fewer than 100 days until Americans cast their vote, it’s clear her campaign is trying to speak the digital language of Gen Z and harness youth-dominated social media platforms to gain traction with young voters.

Coconut trees and a ‘brat summer’

Harris is no stranger to viral moments. In her past three years as Biden’s vice president, she has been relentlessly mocked ^[3] and meme-fied online for her so-called “word salads ^[4]” and overuse of trademark phrases.

In recent weeks, however, her digital footprint has taken on a life of its own. Harris’s passionate online fandom is dubbed the “K-Hive” in a nod to the name of Beyoncé’s dedicated fanbase, the “BeyHive”.

The K-Hive is embracing Harris’s personality and political style in a wave of viral videos inspired by Gen Z trends and cultural touch points.

Let’s take Harris’s coconut tree comment as an example. Last year at a White House event in May, the vice president jokingly ^[5] said ^[6], quoting her mother, “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”

“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

This now-viral quote has resurfaced and spawned endless online content. Many online users (and particularly young people) are referencing the quote ^[7] in their posts, describing themselves as “coconut pilled ^[8]” and lining their social media bios with coconut emojis.

The clip of Harris speaking has been stitched and reposted thousands of times by TikTok users, remixed to the music of iconic Gen Z artists such as Chappell Roan and even used as a soundtrack to a viral dance ^[9] associated with Charli XCX’s song, Apple.

Harris’ campaign appears to be leaning into the joke, with the bio of the official Kamala HQ TikTok and X accounts ^[10] now being just two words: “Providing context.”

Even the header image of Kamala’s X account (pictured at the top of this article) is a reference to British pop singer Charli XCX’s recently released album Brat ^[11]. According ^[12] to the singer – who sent the internet into a frenzy when she tweeted ^[13] “kamala IS brat” last week — the archetypal brat is

just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile.

You’d be forgiven for thinking these might be undesirable traits for a presidential candidate. But by leaning into the “brat summer” brand and tapping into trending audios ^[14], Harris’s campaign is leveraging youth culture to position herself as a relevant and contemporary candidate for Gen Z.

Young social media users have largely embraced Harris’s chaotic and excitable energy. In a way, the very personality quirks that Republicans have tried ^[15] to construe as baggage to take Harris down have emerged as one her greatest assets in connecting with younger voters.

Injecting new life into the Democrats’ campaign

In recent months, poll after poll found young Americans were switching off from a redux of the Trump–Biden matchup.

While Biden was still in the race, polling ^[16] showed an overwhelming 82% of voters below age 30 thought he was too old to be an effective president – more than any other age group.

Harris could not strike a stronger contrast with Biden in her public persona. With her relative youth and engagement with meme culture, she has injected fresh life into the presidential race and the Democrats’ campaign platform.

Since entering the race, Harris has reinvigorated young Americans – a key Democratic voter base Biden was struggling to hold onto ^[17].

In the 48 hours after Biden stepped aside and formally endorsed Harris, almost 40,000 people ^[18] registered to vote. This is the largest spike ^[19] reported this election cycle. Most of these newly registered voters (83%^[20]) were aged 18–34.

Harris has also raked in celebrity endorsements from massive pop culture names, including rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who performed at her first presidential campaign rally in Atlanta – coining the slogan “Hotties for Harris ^[21]”. Other star endorsements have come from rapper Quavo ^[22], pop singer Olivia Rodrigo ^[23] and actor Kerry Washington, to name a few.

From online popularity to the polls

Harris’ campaign is harnessing social media to drill down on campaign messages in a way that might appeal to young audiences online.

In tweets ^[24] and interviews ^[25], Democrats are branding Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance as “weird ^[26]” for their views on issues such as abortion access and women’s rights. They are adopting the bite-sized, quick-witted humour that defines Gen Z to mount policy attacks.

Beyond making the case against Trump, Harris is also positioning herself as a younger candidate with a vision for the future. For instance, her first presidential campaign ad ^[27] strikes an optimistic tone set to the soundtrack of Beyoncé’s song Freedom, as Harris embraces the rallying cry of “we choose freedom ^[28]”.

It’s this future-focused messaging that Harris’s camp hopes will appeal to younger voters — and an angle Biden struggled to articulate, given his age and deteriorating public speaking skills.

That said, the real test for Harris will be whether she can convert this groundswell of momentum into votes come election day in November.