DNC 2024 Goes All in for the Youth Vote. Will it Pay Off?

The 2024 Democratic National Convention marks the first time the party has invited digital content creators to cover the event, which has led to feature panels on youth outreach and Gen Z-created memes.
However, the youth vote has long occupied a polarizing role in U.S. politics. In the past, it has helped drive candidates to the White House, but it can also represent hours of lost time and millions in wasted campaign dollars.
Prior to President Joe Biden’s exit from the race, the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government found that 53 percent of young Americans indicated they will “definitely be voting,” a slight tick down from 54 percent in 2020.
However, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascent to the top of the ticket, alongside a team dedicated to online youth outreach and grassroots canvassing, Democrats are optimistic youth voters will play a key role in determining 2024.
“We have like, 200 creators here right now at the DNC, and we’re seeing a really positive reaction and reception to things that are being posted and the conversations that are being had,” Harry Sisson, a 21-year-old content creator, told Newsweek. “I think the DNC and the Harris campaign is doing an amazing job of kind of like meeting people where they’re at.”
Sisson boasts over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, over 285,000 followers on X, and over 135,000 followers on Instagram. The outspoken Democrat has created content that has featured both Biden and former President Barack Obama. He has also interviewed Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
While concerns have been raised by some regarding a significant presence of creators like Sisson, warning that their friendly interviews detract from time that could be spent putting politicians under rigorous questioning, Sisson said creators play a different role.
He said creators provide political figures a platform to offer understanding to the creator’s audience. Sisson believes this helps digital consumers better understand a politician’s policy proposals, via the channel of a personal voice that they trust.
Through these efforts, Sisson said Democrats can help motivate young people to channel the excitement they’re experiencing online into tangible results at the ballot box.
“President Obama talked about it [in his speech] saying, like, ‘this has to translate, right, this can’t just be memes and vibes, and that’s what we run on and hope to win on,” Sisson said. “We still gotta knock doors. We still gotta talk to our friends, family, and loved ones. We still gotta convince people and change their minds.”
Doug Sosnik, a veteran of the Clinton White House and adviser to over 50 U.S. Senators and governors, sees the DNC’s outreach to creators as an effort that offers strong upside and little downside.
He said, in politics, it’s best to reach people where they’re at, and, according to the Pew Research Center, 32 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 get their news on TikTok.
Democratic efforts to meet people on the highly popular platform signals the campaign understands what it must do to expand its appeal, Sosnik said, so expending resources on this type of outreach makes sense.
“In the last month since she announced, they’ve raised half a billion dollars—This is a campaign that’s not stretched on resources,” Sosnik told Newsweek. “They’re not having to make a choice about whether or not to try this based on limited resources. They have that covered now, so it seems smart to me.”
Based on observations by Newsweek, the DNC is making a concerted effort to focus on digital creator outreach.
Emily Slatkow, communications director of NextGen America, a progressive advocacy group that refers to itself as the “nation’s largest youth voter organization,” believes the DNC’s efforts will prove fruitful.
She believes the engagement with youth groups and creators shows youth voters that Democrats are “listening to them and is wanting to bring them in.”
While youth voters were receptive to Democratic policy priorities—like reproductive care and climate change—with Biden at the top of the ticket, Slatkow said Harris’ ascension has allowed their organization to shift its programming from “persuasion to mobilization.”
Slatkow sees trust building as an essential part of his process. By providing young creators and youth organizers a significant presence at the convention, she believes the party can prove its commitment to voters under the age of 30, perhaps winning the White House in the process.
“I think we’re really seeing the party coalesce and support those young voices and bring them into the fold,” Slatkow told Newsweek. “We know that the typical like politician reaching out or trying to connect does not resonate as well, and having trusted voices that are on their feeds, on Twitch, on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok, is a great way of bridging that gap with young voters.”