On July 21st, (just days after the Republican National Convention) President Joe Biden stepped down from running for re-election in 2024. Hours later, he endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Devi Harris (of Oakland, California), for the presidential election.
Since then, people from the “Generation Z” generation (1996 – 2010) to even the Greatest Generation (1901 – 1927) across the country and on all sides of the political spectrum have become supercharged with energy, hope, and a drive for change.
Some may go as far to say that the rise of the Vice President could be showing us how to make America laugh again.
The Context Around July 21st
I asked Pitman High students in the 10th and 12th grade about what their main concerns were about the election prior to President Biden’s stepping down.
A majority of students that responded stated that Biden and Trump’s ages and mental/physical states were their largest concerns.
But a majority of students that were asked in general didn’t know anything about the election before Biden stepped down. Why?
Because their attitude was completely apathetic and unenthusiastic towards politics as they felt that they aren’t listened to, both as young people and as Americans in general, by politicians and the government.
Just fifteen words from President Biden’s Oval Office address changed many of those attitudes in a heartbeat.
“I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.”
Members of Generation Z across the country heard those fifteen words and started listening to politics again. They got to work (see on what in the next section).
At the same time, the Biden-Harris presidential campaign rebranded to “Harris for President” – and with a younger face as their boss, they had a plan.
The Memes and The Reactions
The Memes
People in Generation Z dug up old clips of the Vice President and created the Coconut Tree meme, a clip of Kamala Harris speaking at the Vice Presidential podium and sharing an anecdote from her mother:
“She used to tell us: ‘You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.’”
This video and audio clip went insanely viral on TikTok, generating a huge amount of publicity for the Vice President. Kamala Harris herself signed up for TikTok at the beginning of August 2024 and has reached 5 million followers by September 5th, the time of this article’s writing.
Harris’ vitality and star power amongst younger voters are reflected in how this generation’s favorite celebrities like Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, and Charli XCX endorsed Kamala Harris right away.
XCX’s endorsement was explosive, as Generation Z quickly superimposed the black Arial font text on a lime green background known as the “brat” meme, a play on the album cover by XCX of the same name. This spawned the now infamous “Kamala IS brat” meme.
“Kamala IS brat” came from a tweet that Charli XCX posted with the same text and sparked a flurry of TikToks and Instagram Reels of a lime green filter overlaid on clips of Mrs. Harris. Songs from Charli XCX’s brat album, specifically “360”, “365”, and “Apple”, would serve as the background music on these clips.
I asked 12th grader and secretary for the Pan-Asian Heritage Society and Health Occupations Students of America clubs, Jeannea Fhey Gonzales, on her take on the viral memes:
“They are definitely amusing. At the end of the day, good publicity and bad publicity is still publicity. The upcoming election and the events preceding it have been enthralling, so much so that they have become a sensation internationally.”
Broadly, student respondents said that the memes are funny, amusing, and that they make politics far more accessible to students and youth. When asked, 10th grader Vangogh Tran had this to say on the impact of the memes:
“I think [the memes] are really a reflection of the modernity our country is currently in. I’m glad that it appears younger generations are more politically active, or at least more politically aware. Politics too often seems like a very adult thing.”
I then asked AP World History teacher, Jennifer Andrade, about her thoughts on these memes:
“If you go back in time to the original foundations of our United States, you’ll see political cartoons. I think it’s a way for people to look at what is going on in the political arena and make light of what’s going on.
If you look at what’s going on in the political arena right now, there’s a lot of hatred going around on both sides, and so I think it’s a way in which [campaigns] not only gain attention for their cause but also to kind of make fun of what’s going on.”
She continued:
“[These memes now and those cartoons from WWI/WWII] make people think, ‘Oh, is this true? Or is this not true?’ and having them dive more into the truth of the matter and then learn to critically think about that political meme. It makes our society more inclined to critical thinking.”
The Reactions
A more traditional way of observing campaign enthusiasm is by looking at the number of volunteers a campaign has. Since Kamala’s ascent, the number of volunteers for the Harris campaign and registered voters across the board surged in the week after Biden’s decision (according to Vote.org).
Given this, I asked US History teacher, Graham Thomas, if he’d seen a shift in the energy of the election. He responded:
“Yes. Many Democrats I know went from depressed and resigned to hopeful and engaged.”
He wanted to clarify that he is not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican party.
Like Charli XCX’s endorsement, Beyoncé’s endorsement of the vice president also made waves throughout the electorate — though on a broader and more traditional scale.
The song titled “Freedom” off of her Lemonade album was quickly chosen for the Harris campaign’s anthem and has evoked the same energy and values that voters have really responded to.
Streams of “Freedom” on music platforms in the U.S. jumped from under 25,000 on July 22nd to 204,000 on July 23rd — the highest it had been since release in 2016 (according to Billboard). Since then, “Freedom” has become one of Beyoncé’s and featured artist Kendrick Lamar’s most streamed songs on Apple Music and Spotify, rejoining charts like the iTunes Top 100 during the week of July 23rd and the Democratic National Convention on the week of August 19th.
Voter registration has also gone up, especially within Generation Z. This would be expected since Generation Z is currently the newest generation that’s coming to the legal voting age – but many online have said that their inspiration to do so was the outreach being done by the Kamala Harris team.
Even business leaders and billionaires, who are broadly fiscally conservative, have thrown their support behind Kamala Harris, such as Mark Cuban, the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team and shark on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Moving Forward with Generation Z’s Impact
Generation Z is evidently one of this election’s most important focuses and by far the age group being courted the most by both the Harris and Trump teams. To reach them, the Democratic National Convention hosted two hundred individual content creators from TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, organizers told NPR.
(Side Note: Remember that these are the same organizers that also invited a DJ to host the Ceremonial Roll Call where delegates from every state pledged their support for Kamala Harris and her campaign of joy. Georgia’s delegates even invited “Turn Down for What” rapper, Lil Jon, to perform during their part of the roll call.)
On the impact of Generation Z’s enthusiasm, I interviewed both Pitman staff and students.
My staff respondents all stated that the increased enthusiasm and drive to be involved in the government by Generation Z is broadly a net positive – especially when students use their critical thinking skills to come up with their own ideas, beliefs, and opinions. Grade nine and ten English Language Arts teacher, Mary Asgill, said:
“It’s always a good thing to see students engage in learning about and researching the real-world events around us, particularly if they’re thinking critically and analytically about the issues at hand. My answer is the same for adults. Our vote is our voice. Our only job is to use our critical thinking to inform our vote.”
Now for the students, the one word unofficial slogan of the Harris for President campaign is “Forward”, a sentiment that students seemed to resonate with.
A sophomore stated that social rights and womens’ rights are now their biggest concern. Another concern was on the increase of energy possibly contributing to an increase in division between people of differing beliefs.
One senior said they were now more focused on who, between Trump and Harris, will benefit the country more. Another senior, who plans on working for the Stanislaus Office of Elections during election season, said that their biggest concern now is how the election makes them feel.
“If I feel happy choosing the candidate that I do, then I know I made the right choice.”
He insinuated that that candidate would be Kamala Harris.
On moving forward, Vangogh added to his prior comment:
“I really want to encourage people, as well as myself, to be better informed in politics – regardless of what party or beliefs you have. This is our country, and we have the responsibility to be informed as the right to impact what happens here.”
So can we laugh again?
From fiery and joyful speeches on the campaign trail to appearing with NSYNC members on TikTok to appointing a goofy social studies teacher-turned Governor of Minnesota to be her vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris and her campaign are being unorthodox and going for the emotions of voters across the country.
It’s up to us, Generation Z, if we decide to expel the bipartisan hatred that has defined politics for the last eight years. It’s up to us to choose the candidates we believe are qualified for the job and choose the candidates that make us feel like America is a great and happy place to be.
And have I mentioned that Kamala hosted Megan Thee Stallion at her first major campaign rally in Atlanta?
If they’re not getting America to laugh again – they’re definitely throwing good parties and sure as heck are having fun trying.