As Kamala Harris reels in shock from her brutal defeat to Donald Trump, a voter shift has emerged that perhaps stings the Democratic candidate the most.
Young Gen Z women, widely considered Harris’ safest demographic, turned their backs on the Democrats in droves to support Donald Trump.
Exit polling from AP reveals 40 percent of women under 30 voted for Trump – a seven-point jump on 2020. The youngest of them, aged 18 to 24, fled Harris in greater numbers with Trump gaining 11 points on his contest with Joe Biden.
Trump’s huge rally with young women helped secure the largest portion of voters under 30 than any Republican candidate since 2008.
Hillary Clinton had a 19-point lead with under 30s when she went up against Trump in 2016, Biden stretched that gap to 25 points – but under Harris that margin shrunk to just 6 points.
As Kamala Harris reels in shock from her brutal defeat to Donald Trump , a voter shift has emerged that perhaps stings the Democratic candidate the most
Young Gen Z women, w idely considered Harris’ safest demographic , turned their backs on the Democrats in droves to support Donald Trump
Trump, too, targeted Gen Z, but his methods appealed more to young men than women, with appearances on podcasts with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and the Nelk Boys
Harris made no secret of her bid to secure Gen Z female voters, embracing ‘brat summer’ and appearing on Alex Cooper’s hugely popular Call Her Daddy podcast.
She courted the endorsements of female music icons – Charli XCX, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé all backed her during the campaign.
The Vice President used terms like ‘weird’ to describe Trump and his running mate JD Vance, embraced the moniker ‘Momala’ and created TikTok videos to Gen Z’s favorite rising star Chappel Roan’s hit song ‘Femininomenon.’
And while she may have won the TikTok war – securing 448million ‘likes’ to Trump’s 102million – she was unable to translate that into votes.
Harris put abortion at the forefront of her campaign after Supreme Court justices appointed during the Trump administration overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.
Exit polling from AP reveals 40 percent of women under 30 voted for Trump – a seven-point jump on 2020. The youngest of them, aged 18 to 24, fled Harris in greater numbers with Trump gaining 11 points on his contest with Joe Biden
She warned female voters that reproductive rights were placed at further risk by another Trump presidency.
But only 13 percent of voters under 30 said abortion was their number one concern.
In stark contrast, 40 percent of that age group said the economy was their main worry. Another 11 percent of under 30s said immigration was their top issue.
Psychotherapist and author Jonathan Alpert told DailyMail.com he was not surprised that Trump did better than expected with Gen Z women.
‘There’s an assumption made about Gen Z – many so-called political experts think that just because someone is in their teens to late 20s and female that means they automatically would vote for Harris,’ he said.
‘In fact, many told me they felt unsafe in Biden/Harris’ America and were wanting a change.’
Harris made no secret of her bid to secure Gen Z female voters, embracing ‘brat summer’ and appearing on Alex Cooper’s hugely popular Call Her Daddy podcast
She warned female voters that reproductive rights were placed at further risk by another Trump presidency
Harris put abortion at the forefront of her campaign after Supreme Court justices appointed during the Trump administration overturned Roe v Wade in 2022
Alpert said there were strong advocates for women’s rights and feminists in this age bracket who still opted to vote for Trump because they considered other factors more pressing.
‘At the end of the day, Gen Z cared about many things, but safety and prosperity seemed to trump other things that the Harris campaign gave way too much power to,’ he said.
Business analyst and political commentator Nadja Atwal said young people didn’t ‘resonate’ with the campaign, despite all the effort that went into learning the lingo and meeting Gen Z on their favored platforms.
‘Plain and simple many felt it was not relatable,’ she said.
Charli XCX, 31, took to X on Sunday saying, ‘kamala IS brat’ – an endorsement referencing the name of her album released earlier this year
They’ve fired off memes of bright green squares, and when the BidenHQ became the ‘KamalaHQ’ a quick-witted and likely younger member of her staff added the recognizable ‘brat’ logo to her page
‘While the economy looks good enough by numbers, it doesn’t matter when people cannot make a living due to high costs. Based on my findings Gen Z felt that Harris’ campaign did not address that issue enough.’
Beyond that, Atwal said the stack of celebrity endorsements may have actually worked against Harris.
‘Many young people felt downright insulted by the Harris campaign banking on star power,’ she said. ‘It does not resonate to see Hollywood and music stars that live in big mansions behind fences and protected by body guards.
‘Trump went all in on the working class… making and serving fries at McDonalds… driving the garbage truck.
‘It was viewed as cool and relatable.’
Trump, too, targeted Gen Z, but his methods appealed more to young men than women, with appearances on podcasts with Joe Rogan, Theo Von and the Nelk Boys.
The 78-year-old made significant inroads with Gen Z men, taking advice from his 18-year-old son, Barron.
Fifty-six percent of men under 30 voted for Trump over Harris, a 15-point increase compared to his defeat against Biden in 2020.
Around 42 percent of young voters cast ballots this year, a lower turnout than the 50 percent in 2020, but roughly on par with the 2016 election.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk