Candidates must close enthusiasm gap with young voters

By Sara Guillermo

Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 2 a.m.

President Joe Biden may have joined TikTok, but a growing body of evidence shows Gen Z is still more excited about watching the new season of “Love Is Blind” than voting for either Biden or Donald Trump.

There’s an enthusiasm gap about the election where Gen Z is concerned, and it has its roots in the candidates’ authenticity with this audience. The candidates can take concrete steps to overcome it, but they must do it now.

About 50% of young voters cast a ballot in 2020, an 11% increase from 2016. Gen Z is about to comprise America’s biggest voting bloc, along with millennials. But right now, 75% of voters under 29 disapprove of the way Biden has handled the conflict in Gaza. It’s making them unenthusiastic to get out and vote.

On one level, people from different generations tell me that Gen Z needs to “get over it.” The choice between the candidates in November involves more than a single issue. But it’s dismissive of young people’s energy to think they aren’t serious about their concerns.

Young people are engaging in politics through issues. This includes the Middle East, abortion rights, climate change, mass shootings and mental health. Their concerns need to be heard, and candidates need to engage them. Gen Z cannot stand it when people take their support for granted.

Gen Z is also sensitive to how they’re courted in politics. Gen Z likes their candidates to be authentic, and Gen Z has a good radar for when someone is pandering to them.

Democratic strategists have said Biden’s TikTok debut aimed to woo young voters. But his digital body language (DBL) was way off. As comedian Jon Stewart said on the “Daily Show” return the day after, Biden’s first TikTok post was cringey. He expressed a strange preference for eating Travis Kelce’s mom’s chocolate chip cookies. As Stewart said: “How do you go on TikTok and end up looking older?”

I’m not saying the battle for Gen Z’s votes on digital platforms is over, far from it. Trump’s youth enthusiasm gap could also cost him the election. Both candidates need to invest more heavily in courting Gen Z to avoid being ghosted at the ballot box.

But it’s on the candidates to engage them. There’s a myth that Gen Z is apathetic about voting. Gen Z is anything but apathetic about politics. They have strong opinions and they’re getting involved and leading on issues.

They’re fired up about America, and they want leadership that is as fired up as they are.

At the same time, their vote matters, and they don’t see it as cheap. What they want is candidates who seek to engage them with earnestness. They want candidates who make the first move with care and consideration. Not, to quote Trump slightly out of context, candidates who “move on them.”

They want candidates whose DBL is as smooth and enticing as Kelce’s mom’s cookie batter. If we continue to judge Gen Z and hold them at arm’s length, we can’t blame them for lacking enthusiasm about us.

That’s where the candidates need to take ownership and change direction in 2024. It’s not too late, but I’m deeply concerned, and the message is clear. When it comes to Gen Z’s political enthusiasm, it’s not them. It’s you. Do better.

Sara Guillermo is the leader of IgniteNational.org, a young women’s political empowerment organization. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.