Social Media as the new Soapbox: How being ‘brat’ has transformed Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign in the bid for the young person’s vote.

Sasha Andresier

X (formerly known as Twitter) becomes alight as Charli XCX proclaims, in no uncertain terms, that ‘Kamala IS brat’ (X, 2024). Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is irrefutably changed as a result. In fact, this (what has since been claimed to be incidental) endorsement was fully acknowledged and adopted by Kamala HQ and has since proved itself to be a campaigning technique of such immensity that it has made its way into the everyday discourse beyond social media. Articles explaining the tweet’s significance have been cropping up ever since, (see The BBC and The Guardian) written in order to answer the questions of why Harris so unhesitatingly accepts and runs with this branding, and why this is such a success for the democratic campaign? Impact’s Sasha Andresier explores.

Harris sets apart her campaign by endorsing the light-hearted language used by the Generation Z population

By tweeting ‘Kamala IS brat’, Charli brings about a rather rare phenomenon- the political campaigners being in on the joke. A large portion of this political campaigns on the basis of being at the forefront of the zeitgeist, captured effortlessly at the peak of interest of ‘brat summer’ in the social media sphere. Such fortuitous timing cannot be ignored when we consider the wider impact on some voters, as well as on the campaign itself. Harris sets apart her campaign by endorsing the light-hearted language used by the Generation Z population in what I would argue is a masterclass in peripheral propagandising. If Harris’ campaign messaging is not only loosely associated with ‘brat’ but synonymous with it,  the reach of her policy expands to practically every young person’s sphere of interest in social media. This bypasses the possibility of “cringely” isolating the youthful audience and instead subliminally imparts the idea that the Harris campaign is for young people by young people. As they say, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down- the sugar in this case being a simple three word tweet and the medicine being cognitive alliance with the democratic leader’s bid for power.

It is a reality that we are faced with that there is low voter turnout especially in young people with voter turnout in those between the ages of 18-24 years old dropping from 47% to 37% between the 2019 and 2024 UK General Elections.  The reasoning behind this is most often boiled down to “voter apathy”- as young people feel unrepresented and uncared for by their local or wider government, they feel less inclined to make an effort to research the issues at hand and ultimately do not cast their vote. In a British Election Study, 60% of surveyed people between 18-25 had the attitude that ‘Politicians don’t care’ yet over 40% said that they were ‘not satisfied with the UK democracy’, beating out all other age groups in this category. It is unsurprising they might feel apathetic towards the voting process when they can recognise the issues facing our country today but feel as though whomever they vote for cannot be trusted to fix the problems at hand. 

The use of memes, online rhetoric, trends and colloquial language cannot be understated in reaching the voter demographic of the 18-25 year olds.

Thus emerges the significance of campaigning in a specifically social media oriented way. By campaigning towards the young person and showing your care for their troubles, you have the opportunity to engage the attention of Generation Z in the sphere they wish to be in, in the language they wish to speak in. The use of memes, online rhetoric, trends and colloquial language cannot be understated in reaching the voter demographic of the 18-25 year olds. Social media use within this group is so much second nature (about 94% of Generation Z in 2023) that the utilisation of this space as a tool for campaigning would appear obvious. To fail to recognise the significance of this venture is to illegitimize the attempt to appeal to a large, and important, subsect of voters.  Young people experiencing voter apathy is a real consequence of isolating these groups and the influence of their vote on the election outcome. 

Young people feeling as though they understand and can participate in political discourse is an act of empowerment

If the concern we are highlighting is appealing to a young voter demographic without condescension, we need look no further. The campaign of Kamala Harris does not accept Charli XCX’s endorsement placidly but embraces it. I would make the argument for the cruciality behind this move. Not only does it cleverly align Harris with young voter’s interests but it can provide some voters with the freedom found in political literacy. Using the language of the masses is an act of justice for the voter on the part of the campaigner as well as immaculately examples a campaign that favours the democratic process- something that might distinguish Harris from Donald Trump effortlessly. Young people feeling as though they understand and can participate in political discourse is an act of empowerment and could be the difference between a registered voter and secured vote, and neither. Beyond this, a tweet with such huge reception has the opportunity to break out the echo chambers of online discourse. Wherein so often political discourse is confined to what the algorithm determines relevant for each user, an instance of a tweet of this magnitude (over 56 million views at time of writing) cannot be contained within these rhetoric bubbles and infuses pop culture language that most X users will be familiar with, with veritable political endorsement.

The power of a meme in undermining a political opponent is positively dynamite in this presidential race.

Harris is not the first, or only, to utilise the social media space to gain the attention of young voters, but I would argue she is most effective. For even without knowing the outcome of the upcoming election she has marked herself out as a public-facing politician- a claim that has not gone unnoticed with 51% of registered voters agreeing that Harris cares about ordinary people compared to 44% for Trump. Where arguably this is a character-based election, Harris is the discernibly more publicly engaged of the pair, not without thanks to this tweet and the subsequent campaigning. She is not only engaged with the public but makes an effort to outreach to underrepresented voter groups. The power of a meme in undermining a political opponent is positively dynamite in this presidential race.

For those who suppose that this technique diminishes the importance of the political issues at hand, I am not wholeheartedly disagreeing with you. There is definite danger in undermining the severity of some policy issues and how they are discussed online can hugely influence that. But I would contend that we are in an indisputably modern election and as a result, within reason, we must make the most of modern techniques that allow for voter interest, registration and electoral engagement. If encouraging political interest and voting in young people is brat then paint me the signature green and put me on stage at the Sweat Tour. Charli XCX may now have claimed that political endorsement was not her main aim of the tweet but that does not undermine the ways in which Kamala Harris’ campaign has become empowered by this statement, empowering millions of young people with them.

Sasha Andresier