On July 24th, 2024, president Joe Biden announced that he had dropped out of the 2024 presidential election. In replacement, he chose his vice president Kamala Harris to take his position in the race. Expectedly, following this announcement came a surge of social media commentary and criticism. On one hand, citizens are happy to see the representation of women of color in positions of authority. On the other, many people claim Harris to be an unserious and undedicated candidate.

Following Biden’s announcement, pop star Charli XCX, whose album Brat gained extreme popularity throughout the summer, responded by tweeting “Kamala IS brat”. Charli’s public support of the Harris campaign quickly attracted attention, with the post now standing at 55 million views. Shortly after, this proof of endorsement became the central theme behind the Harris campaign’s TikTok account, entitled “Kamala Hq”. In doing so, the page quickly accumulated views across the platform, now holding four million followers with a total of 99.3 million likes. Since then, the account has posted numerous videos following popular trends among influencers and young adults on the app. These videos provide information, refute false claims, and denounce former president Trump’s campaign. By following recent trends and manipulating them to match her campaign, Harris has gathered an abundance of support from younger individuals across the country. But what about millennials and the elders in our country? Does winning over the younger generation really ensure she will win over the vote of Americans?

Commenting on social media’s relationship with Kamala Harris, Maya Gonzales ‘26 shares, “I think that [Harris’] use of social media is obviously way more intended for Gen-Z, but I do not think that that takes away from her being able to appeal to millennials and Gen-X. Since older generations are not going to be completely persuaded by TikToks, she just has to keep diverting attention towards things like debates and speeches for them. But overall I think it is definitely beneficial that she has added using social media to her campaign to encourage a younger audience to get involved.” 

On the contrary, some people believe that instead of focusing on appealing to relatable trends, candidates should concentrate on informing their audience of their plan of action. Lauren Choi ‘26 expresses, “I feel like the use of social media is doing more harm than good because of how it’s being used. In this election, social media isn’t really being used for information. Instead, it contains more propaganda and uses mocking tones directed at their opponents rather than bringing awareness to issues that the candidate plans to solve.” 

Collectively, the presidential election for 2024 is one of the most important elections in modern American history. The idea of a woman of color being in charge of the nation would be extremely monumental for American society. With long standing issues in the vein of discrimination, climate change, poverty, and war becoming more prevalent each day, it is imperative that newer generations make the right decision in electing America’s next president. That is why voters must make sure they educate themselves, confirm that their intake of information is credible, and that they are doing their part to use the power of their voice as cataclysmic of a time as we are in today.