Donald Trump Uses TikTok To Target Young Voters

Donald Trump plans to post a series of short videos on TikTok (photo: x @realDonaldTrump)

JAKARTA - Donald Trump plans to post a series of short videos on TikTok targeting young men with messages about inflation and other economic issues. The Gal was conveyed by two of his campaign advisers. They also provide a first look at the Republican presidential candidate's strategy for the popular application as the 2024 election competition heats up.

Trump joined TikTok on Saturday June 1 with the first video from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The video emphasizes his campaign efforts to attract young voters, especially men who are the main UFC fan base.

The 13-second video showing Trump's footage mingling with UFC fans quickly garnered tens of millions of viewers, making Trump a power on China's platform he was trying to ban when he was president. As of Wednesday, June 5, Trump's account has 5.5 million followers on the app, and 5.8 million likes.

While president, Trump tried to ban TikTok by executive order, calling its owner, Chinese technology company ByteDance, a national security threat, but the move was blocked by the courts. In April, Democratic US President Joe Biden, who will face Trump in November 5 elections, signed a law that would ban TikTok in the US unless ByteDance relinquished its holdings.

Trump hasn't posted much on TikTok yet and his campaign hasn't talked much about how they plan to interact with 170 million TikTok users in the US, especially the group of young men who according to polls are increasingly supporting Trump.

Tony Fabrizio, a poll expert from Republicans who recently joined Trump's campaign as a senior adviser, said core messages would focus on the economy, leveraging frustration among young people with a spike in post-pandemic inflation that was difficult to control by the Biden administration.

"These voters are more sensitive to economic issues. They are more likely to talk about inflation, they are more likely to say their personal finances are deteriorating," Fabrizio said in an interview.

Trump's approach to TikTok marks significant developments in his campaign social media strategy, which was previously centered on frequent messages containing complaints he posted on Truth Social, a platform he launched and controlled.

James Blair, Trump's campaign political director and Republican National Committee, said Trump would have "significant and ever-increasing activity" on TikTok, which is used by the majority of adults in the United States under the age of 30.

"I think you're going to see TikTok as a launch pad for more short video content indicated across all of our channels," Blair said.

Unlike Trump, Biden does not have an individual TikTok account. A spokesman for Biden's re-election campaign, which has a TikTok account with 360,000 followers and 4.6 million likes, said young voters would eventually be influenced by Biden's policies, including his stance on health care and arms control.

"Young voters want presidents who fight for them, not those who appear on UFC events," Sarafina Chitika said, calling Trump's agenda "poisony for young voters."

YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES

Some, but not all, polls show Trump, 77, close to Biden, 81, among young voters. If proven true in November, this would mark a major change from 2020, when a poll came out showing Biden won a voter aged 18-29 with a difference of 24 percentage points.

In addition to inflation, concerns about Biden's age and his support for Israel in the fight against Hamas have sparked erosion of its advantage among youth as polls show its support among Hispanic and black voters may also decline.

Although still very unpopular among young women, Trump seems to be making progress among young men, a trend that some political experts attribute to his efforts to develop the image ofTEN while criticizing progressive views on political and masculinity corrections and attacking opponents.

"The place where we make the most progress is men under 35," said Fabrizio.

About 60% of regular TikTok news consumers in the US are Democrats or leaning towards Democrats, according to a 2023 study from the Pew Research Center which means Trump may face the challenge of using this platform for his benefit.

However, there are also opportunities to increase support in some demographics: nineteen percent of TikTok news consumers are black, and 30% are Hispanic, compared to 14% and 19% of the US general population, respectively. About 44% of news consumers on TikTok are between the ages of 18 and 29, according to Pew.

Future Majority, a Democratic firm analyzing voter sentiment, conducted a survey of TikTok users in April and found a correlation between those who often use the platform and have negative feelings for the Biden administration as well as its economic and foreign policies, particularly related to inflation and war in Gaza.

The survey highlighted young women Latino, and black men as disproportionate TikTok users. Overall, respondents hold a more unfavorable view of Biden than Trump by a 57% to 53% difference. Trump is seen as more profitable with a five-point difference in percentages.

"TikTok affects their view of Biden and their view of the country at the moment," said Mark Ride, president of Future Majority, quoted by VOI from Reuters.