Vice President Kamala Harris’ account has reportedly surged in popularity on communist China’s TikTok social media platform.
TikTok “has been exploding with Kamala Harris memes” that paint the vice president and soon-to-be Democrat presidential nominee in a favorable light, depicting her as a “cool girl,” according to a report by Politico.
Harris memes are flooding young people’s TikTok feeds, including one video that shows the vice president cackling away — which people have typically found to be off-putting — while music plays in the background.
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Video memes like this are trying to portray Harris, who has rarely been seen in the spotlight during the Biden administration, as a fun and cool individual that Gen-Z can get behind.
“When you think about why and how Trump got elected and why he’s making inroads with younger audiences, it’s because he’s memeable, and when you’re memeable, you’re a bit more personable,” progressive activist and youngest New York City Council Member Chi Ossé told Politico.
Democrat digital and political strategist Annie Wu Henry told the outlet that she finds Harris relatable, adding that the viral TikTok videos “show that she’s a person that they can relate to, and she has some personality.”
“She is at a unique position in that there is a lot of potential that people see in what her presidency could be from a historic [viewpoint] as the first black woman, Asian woman, to hold the title, but also what it could mean politically,” Henry said.
Harris’ campaign TikTok account, meanwhile — which used to be Biden’s campaign account before it was rebranded on Sunday — has been posting content featuring Gen-Z lingo and sarcasm in an effort to appeal to young people on the Chinese social media platform.
The vice president’s campaign appears to be trying to distance itself from the old and unrelatable aura that Biden emitted.
While many young people vote Democrat, polling during Biden’s reelection campaign showed him losing ground with young people. A poll in May, for example, showed Trump leading third party candidates by 6six percentage points among Gen-Z and millennial voters.
It remains yet to be seen how Harris will do among young people, as polling still suggests that Gen-Z voters have mixed results.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.