Ember Duke | layout editor

Social media has been one of the main campaigning methods for the 2024 presidential election, allowing both candidates to reach audiences in a way traditional media can’t, experts said.

No matter the election outcome, the future president is online.

More than in previous elections, the presidential campaigns are hinging on audience engagement through social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X. The shift to non-traditional media correlates with a growing number of people getting their news online, said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh based campaign consultant said.

“You have to go where the voters are,” Mikus said. “That’s why campaigns, in addition to the paid advertising, try and have a very robust social media team.”

In the height of “brat summer,” a term coined from the popularization of Charli XCX’s album, “brat,” the KamalaHQ Twitter donned a lime green banner and lower case font in reference to the online trend. The campaign maintains an active TikTok account and Instagram, often employing trending audios, meme formatting and references to generational jokes at the expense of opponent former President Donald Trump.

While views online don’t definitively translate to action at the polls, the use of social media is an attempt to engage young voters, said Alison Dagnes, professor of political science at Shippensburg University.

“I think a bigger get is especially, if you’re talking about younger voters, and first time voters,” Dagnes said. “Because they were not legally allowed to vote in 2020 then the use of social media I think is more profound with them.”

In the 2020 election, the Gen Z vote swayed democratic, with 58% of the age demographic’s votes going to Biden, according to Pew Research Center.

For Harris, the young vote could be the key to The White House. Lighthearted content can be a way to get audiences interested in the platform, said Gevin Reynolds, a former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I think once you’re hooked, then you’re more inclined to engage with some of the more substantive issues that … the vice president is engaging with on a daily basis,” Reynolds said.

The Trump campaign has its own online history. In the wake of the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump was banned from X after the company found his posts to glorify the acts and for fear they would incite more violence, according to CNN. Soon after, he established his own platform Truth Social and has since been reinstated to X in light of Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform.

In this election cycle, his social media campaign is focusing on negative messaging about the left because it often spreads faster, said Mikus.

“The Trump campaign, they rely a lot on memes and AI photos of him,” Mikus said. “They really don’t fact check. They spend all their time trying to drive their message.”

A scroll through the TrumpHQ X profile shows informational graphics on Trump’s platform points and criticism of Harris.

In the last stretch leading to Election Day both candidates are taking to the podcast mic as a way to reach niche audiences. Using these platforms, which are often topic based, allows for the candidates to target undecided voters, Mikus said.

“A lot of these podcasts that have very large audiences are the type of … programming where you’ll be able to reach these voters who don’t watch the news,” Mikus said.

On Oct. 6, Harris appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, which largely addresses the trials and victories of the modern woman, to talk about reproductive rights. She has also appeared on the podcasts All the Smoke and The Breakfast Club to further emphasize her economic plans and intentions for the Black population, according to Time.

Trump notably has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, Impulsive and This Past Weekend with Theo Von. He discussed 2020 election denialism, his felony conviction and his opinion on the current state of the government, according to Time.

An increased distrust towards traditional media could be in part why politicians are shifting to social media. However, confirmation bias is a rampant issue, Dagnes said.

“[Trump’s] most ardent supporters, who are just utilizing right wing media, are not exposed to any of the craziness,” Dagnes said. “So when … they’re told about it, they don’t believe it, and because Trump has done such a good job of just throwing so much shade at legitimate, traditional news media outlets.”

Mikus said he views X as one of the least reliable platforms for accurate information.

“The biggest downside to campaigns using social media is that, you know, some bad actors can purposely put false information out there, and then it spreads rapidly,” Mikus said.

It’s not a party related issue though. He said people from both sides suffer from “media silos.”

“I think long term, it’s going to be problematic, because you have different sets of voters living in different sets of reality,” he said.

As the pool of people who get most of their news online grows, social media will remain king for future political campaigning, Mikus said.