How US presidential campaigns are appealing to younger voters

WEB DESK: A custom map for the hugely popular video game “Fortnite” was launched on Monday by the Kamala Harris campaign. It was the latest move in a campaign cycle that has seen both United States presidential candidates use less traditional avenues to appeal to a wider voter base.

TWITCH AND VIDEO GAMES

The custom creative map, which revolves around campaign pledges such as affordable housing and tax breaks for small businesses, urges gamers, many of whom are male, to “fight for freedom.” A recent CBS News poll found that while Harris leads in likely female voters, Trump has the advantage when it comes to men.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been trying to use less traditional methods to appeal to a wider range of possible voters. In August, Donald Trump made an appearance on Twitch alongside popular streamer Adin Ross. The live-stream peaked at over half a million viewers, demonstrating the appeal of Twitch.

More recently, vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz made his own appearance on twitch, together with US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Together they played the video games “Madden NFL” and “Crazy Taxi”. With the backdrop of games, Walz tried to appeal to a younger male audience by reminiscing about his time with playing with a Sega Dreamcast.

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Walz then urged the audience to get out and vote, by stating that “I hear it all the time, ‘I’m just not into politics.’ Too bad! Politics is into you.” The vice-presidential candidate also discussed social security and the need for the Democratic party to improve its messaging, saying “for the folks who are frustrated, they need to see things getting done… then rectifying some of those wrongs.”

PODCASTS

Earlier in October, Kamala Harris made an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, hosted by Alex Cooper. Cooper admitted herself that her podcast doesn’t usually deal with politics, stating that “I do not usually discuss politics, or have politicians on this show, because I want Call Her Daddy to be a place where everyone feels comfortable tuning in.” She later added that her “focus is women and the day to day issues we face,” which led her to having the Democratic presidential nominee on.

The conversation that ensued revolved around abortion rights, while criticising Trump’s rhetoric regarding women’s reproductive freedom and the false claims the Republican nominee has made about Democrats killing babies after they are born.

During the same period, Trump was interviewed by comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh on their podcast Flagrant. The interview began with the two comedians praising Trump for how he’s raised his children, before delving into the attempted assignation of the former president, as well as the threat of nuclear war, illegal immigrants, and abortion, among a myriad of other topics.

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DOES IT WORK?

Before Donald Trump made an appearance on the most viewed podcast in the world last week, the Joe Rogan Experience, he had already garnered over 45 million views across the numerous podcasts interviews he attended in the past few months. The Joe Rogan Experience alone added another 37 million, showcasing the reach less traditional media has.

The audience being targeted in such interviews is also much younger than those who watch more traditional media, such as CBS’s “60 Minutes”, a long running news show that Trump refused to appear on.  

Harris’ podcast appearances have had less viewership, but their recent attempt to target gamers may benefit the campaign, as “Fortnite” has an average daily player count well above a million. Additionally, the use of Twitch provides the Harris campaign access to over 2 million viewers watching steams at any given time.