The Influence of Young Voter Engagement on the Campaign to Win a Second Term in the White House: Vice President Liam Levenson’s Case
The 24-year-old is the National Youth Engagement Director for Vice President Harris, she has been in this position since January when President Biden was trying to win a second term. She has to get young voters to the polls this fall.
At a coffee shop in Chicago, she wore a number of bracelets that had words to the effect ofKamala, political girlie, and voting era on them.
“It’s been so great to see the attention and the energy online,” Levenson said. How do we make sure that we maintain energy and how do we then harness it?
A recent boost in enthusiasm for Harris among voters under 30 who supported Biden four years ago but soured on him over the last year, is one reason why young organizers are working to rally youth support.
Harris launched her campaign just a couple of weeks ago, and historically unreliable young voters are inconsistently turning out to vote despite notable increases over the past decade.
There are signs for the campaign’s organizing push. She has built a program for the Harris campaign to tap into, launching a nationwide student organizing program last spring that will start back up as students return to campus this fall.
“We’ve seen such a great influx of folks coming into our campaign,” she said. There has been more sign-ups for our students in the last few weeks than there had been in the entire time before. We’ve seen more folks signing up for our events. There has been more people applying for those jobs. But we need to keep up the energy, and we need that to continue.”
On top of a rise in the polls among this age group, Harris has benefited from a surge of viral moments online. The campaign is running with it and getting more involved in social media, using some of the meme to organize, and seeing a huge increase in engagement on TikTok. Though the campaign still trails Trump in overall followers, it has seen a huge increase in engagement.
As Minnesota Governor and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz took the stage at the DNC’s youth council meeting, the crowd of largely young people erupted in cheers and chants of “coach.”
The power young voters could have in battleground states is explained by Walz, especially since the margins may be incredibly tight.
He claimed that it would be won in the trenches. “It’s going to be won by your demographic for the most part. If we can turn you out and get you to vote, that’s how it’s going to be done. You’ll be the one who’s elected the first women president of the United States.
That excitement is something Blake Robinson, a 21-year-old delegate from Georgia, said he could feel as he got ready to head over to the convention center hours before Harris accepted the presidential nomination.
The Democratic Party’s main goal was energy, he said. “We wanted some semblance of youthfulness and vigor and energy. I am not sure if you’ve been in the convention hall but there is not a single dull moment.
Organizers aligned with the ‘Uncommitted’ movement, which started during the Democratic primaries to protest President Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, took issue with the DNC’s decision not to allow a Palestinian American to speak at the convention.
And while the war is not the top issue overall that young voters care about according to previous national polls, it remains a concern, particularly among some progressive, Arab American and Muslim voters – groups that typically side with Democrats.
“We know how much this issue impacts young people,” he explained. “Giving a Palestinian-American a place on this stage is going to be important. We have to make sure that everyone is included in our speaking lineup. We need to show that we care about everyone in this issue, regardless of whether or not you agree with it.
A group of undecided voters and Times Opinion started a project just before the Democratic National Convention about Donald Trump, and we talked about it in detail. The group had very specific opinions about Mr. Trump. The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol was searing for many of them, some of whom were teenagers at the time, and they held Mr. Trump responsible. They called him a traitor, a narcissist, untrustworthy. Some worried he would fight another election loss.
When we asked them if Mr. Trump was a good guy or a bad guy, Ms. Harris didn’t do any better than a five. Mr. Trump had a total of fours and fives.
The two candidates were lambasted differently by the group. Some of them had doubts about Ms. Harris whether or not she would improve the economy, if she supported Israel, and if she knew about President Biden’s cognitive abilities. They labeled her disingenuous, invisible, fake. Most were suspicious about Ms. Harris — yet most detested Mr. Trump. They knew him.