Within hours of President Joe Biden dropping his bid for reelection and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Internet went to work.
Countless memes and videos of Harris laughing or dancing to fan-made edits sprouted across platforms like TikTok and X, seemingly showcasing initial support from the perpetually online and one of the fastest-growing voter demographics in the country: Generation Z. Since then, the Harris campaign has embraced the memes, and even overhauled her HQ account on X, adopting Charli XCX’s viral “brat” theme.
Twenty-four-year-old Boyle Heights resident Armando Magallanes has seen the buzz around Harris and support from young people online, most recently from pop-music icon Olivia Rodrigo. He sees the shift in the race away from Biden, 81, to Harris, 59, as an appeal to the youth. “Young people are definitely energized about a younger candidate,” he said.
But the former Boyle Heights Beat reporter is not sure it’s enough yet to sway his vote, especially when he’s waiting to learn more about Harris’ immigration platform.
“Looking at the platforms Biden and Kamala have put up, I get they’re trying to address [immigrant rights] but it’s not enough. They weren’t doing enough for me,” Magallanes said.
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Harris has already secured the support of enough delegates to become the Democratic party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey. The former California senator has gained a slew of endorsements from politicians, influential groups and celebrities. She’s raised $126 million since Sunday, including a record $81 million in just the first 24 hours since Biden’s exit, according to her campaign.
But while Harris has seemingly energized the party, she still must work to motivate Gen Z voters, particularly Latinos, who skew younger and are key to Democratic victory– a demographic Biden was losing.
Zitlalli Sanchez, 23, sees the difference in youth engagement between Biden and Harris and said her peers have taken notice.
“I believe there will be a higher voter turnout of Gen Z voters that Biden wasn’t necessarily targeting or gaining traction like Kamala has,” Sanchez said. “It’s energizing Gen Z and the nation as a whole because they’re finally going to have some change from two men going at it for the last couple of years.”
Sanchez is among the 8.8 million Latino Gen Zers in the U.S. who will be eligible to vote this year — which make up 22% of the nearly 41 million in the age group, according to CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
But the same group has a record of not showing up to the polls.
In 2020 there were nearly 7 million Hispanics aged 18-24 in the U.S., and only 34% reported voting, compared to 48% of all who reported voting in the same age group, according to U.S. Census data.
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Dr. Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center of Inclusive Democracy at USC’s School of Public Policy, said that young people, especially young people of color, are underserved when it comes to learning when, where and how to vote. The same demographic, she said, doesn’t see as much voter outreach compared to that of older voters.
“We have lower turnout for young people and communities of color because the campaign machine largely ignores them,” Romero said. “We don’t really make the case for voting and we certainly don’t give them hands-on training and help them to really see how it connects to their world.”
Still, Romero said that although there are several reasons why a young person may not vote, such as feeling disconnect with the political process, apathy likely isn’t one of them.
“Young people are often discouraged and not encouraged. They want to see the goods and sometimes make the choice of not voting because they don’t see it as an actionable step to the issue they care about,” Romero said. “We have this long history of discounting and disrespecting young people when it comes to their political participation, even though young people have been that foundational piece as to basically every social movement around the world.”
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Sanchez, is hopeful the political shift among her peers will come from youth learning more about politics and the consequences of not having your voice heard.
“I think it’s a reemergence of people realizing that politics are personal and not voting is actually a vote to someone that can cause a lot of harm to this country. If [Harris] does become the nominee and she does eventually win, Gen Z will then be the target population for her entire term because we are the new voters.”
For Alexa Morales, 19, being able to voice her opinion is why she’s eager to cast her vote for the first time this November.
The teaching assistant at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory said the idea of voting for Biden didn’t sit well with her considering his decision to send aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza. Morales called Harris’ policies imperfect but hoped she could better adapt and evolve beyond Biden’s.
The young voter questioned if people in the U.S. were ready for a female president, but saw a glimmer of hope for the future.
“The amount of Hillary hate that there was in this country wasn’t just about Hillary, it was about her being a woman. I think Kamala has a bigger battle to face being a woman of color,” Morales said. “It’s going to be a struggle… I hope we’re ready for it. I’m really excited for this chapter but we have a long ways to go.”
Carol Martinez and Evelyn Paz contributed to this story.
