No TikTok, no problem: Trump leans on economy, humor, ‘shareability’ to reach Gen Z
Donald Trump’s campaign is hoping the way to Gen Z’s votes in November is through moments of “humor and entertainment” sandwiched by reminders of a struggling economy.
While President Biden’s re-election bid is heavily relying on an official TikTok account and paying social media influencers to reach younger voters, the 45th president’s team is gambling that Trump himself is viral enough to spread the word about his message.
One Trump strategist told The Post that the 77-year-old’s meme-worthy moments — including recent stops at Chick-fil-A, MMA fights, football games and events like February’s Sneaker Con — convey “authenticity” and have the most potential for “shareability” on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the top three places Gen Z, defined by the Pew Research Center as anyone born in or after 1997, consumes their political news.
While Team Trump has no formal presence on TikTok due to national security concerns about the China-linked app, there are non-affiliated influencers on the platform who speak favorably about the former president, the strategist said.
The person added that other apps and streaming services (“Roku or Hulu or places like that”) also provide an alternative path to reach voters through advertisements.
Young voters have historically broken Democratic, but recent polls have seen the demographic turning toward Trump amid outrage over Biden’s handling of the economy and concern about waves of immigration and persistently high inflation.
A CNN poll released Sunday found Trump ahead of Biden by 11 percentage points (51% to 40%) among voters ages 18 to 34.
Four years ago, exit polls by the same outlet showed Biden defeated Trump among every age group under 50.
As in the money race, the Trump team is insisting that close enough to Biden is good enough to win, with the strategist arguing that an improvement of around eight points among young voters over 2020 would have “fundamentally changed the race, because they’re such a large voting bloc.”
Beyond the power of Trump himself, the presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign is leaning into messaging on the economy, which polls repeatedly show is the No. 1 issue for voters.
“We care more right now about message than technique,” the strategist said.
“Number one, by far, is economic. The Gen Z generation feels that they were harder hit by COVID, economically, than anyone else. It made them delay their life. Things have been, for the last four years, remarkably unaffordable.”
The frequent clips of Biden’s gaffes shared on Trump-affiliated X accounts are also a key part of the strategy.
“We believe there’s a huge physical difference between President Trump and President Biden as far as energy, stamina,” the strategist shared. “The videos are so pervasive, either walking on the beach or in a beach chair … by falling going up the steps, or falling off his bike and so forth.”
“Biden’s team has to pay influencers to attempt to sell his message for him because he can’t sell it himself,” said campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “He is unrelatable and unlikeable in the eyes of the young people in this country, whereas President Trump is very likeable, and everything he does is a viral moment, whether it’s just simply walking into a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta and meeting with the young workers or flipping burgers at an Iowa football game tailgate.”
Leavitt also argued that Biden’s policies “have created a more expensive, divided, and dangerous country for young Americans to grow up in, and that’s why he’s losing significant ground with this demographic in the polls.”
“On the contrary, President Trump will create a safe, prosperous, and free nation that helps all young people achieve their American Dream.”
Republican strategists are less convinced by the strategy, with one source close to the RNC fretting to The Post: “There seems to be a lack of strategy, with the campaign suffering from shiny object syndrome. Every few days or every other week the campaign pivots — Hispanics, black men, and now Gen Z voters.
“Meanwhile, there are virtually no field offices on the ground game front and neither the Trump campaign nor the RNC have money to fund absentee and early mail-in voting outreach, even though the first ballots will drop in mid-September,” the person added.
A second GOP strategist disagreed: “Donald Trump, the entertainer, knew how to command the media’s attention before he was president, and it’s clear he can still shake up the news cycle today.
“Despite the drama, his message continues to penetrate the mainstream media and reach everyday Americans.”
“Is the message about the economy enough? For some folks in Gen Z, this is the only type of economy they’ve really known as adults,” warned Republican strategist Dave Wilson. “Do they know any better of what the economy used to be?
“You’ve got to have a group of influencers who have the ability to articulate to people how much better life can be if Donald Trump is back in the White House.”
Meanwhile, the number of Gen Z voters who say they will “definitely” turn out this year is down 8% from 2020 amid reluctance to embrace either Trump or Biden, according to the Harvard Kennedy School’s annual youth poll released this past fall.
