 "Donald Trump and Kamala Harris-File Photo")
The contrast between the two candidates will be on display on Friday as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will join two celebrities to woo completely different demographics in Texas.
While Republican nominee Trump will record an episode with conservative podcaster Joe Rogan in Austin to woo young men, Democratic nominee Harris will be joined by music stars Beyonce and Willie Nelson at a rally in Houston in an outreach to women over abortion.
In recent years, while young men in the United States have drifted towards conservatism, young women have drifted towards liberalism. The shift has been accelerated by the rise of Trump and his far-right Make America Great Again movement and the boom of alternative mass media such as podcasts.
Rogan’s show ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ was the world’s most listened-to podcast on Spotify in 2023 for the fourth year straight. The show also has 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube and its popular episode has been viewed 61 million times. For comparison, the climax of this year Republican National Convention in which Trump was crowned as the nominee was viewed by 25 million viewers, according to AFP.
As Texas is not a battleground state, it is an odd choice for Harris to campaign in just days ahead of the Election Day on November 5. But the Democratic campaign is counting on the star power and the strength of abortion as an electoral issue to make a difference among women voters.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsFollowing the overturning of Roe v Wade judgement that guaranteed federal constitutional protection to abortion, several Republican-run states have restricted abortions and Democrats, particularly Harris, have made it a central theme of the campaign against Trump.
The ‘star wars’ of Trump & Harris
Trump and Harris are backed by a battery of stars.
While Trump’s biggest star is of course Elon Musk, the owner of X, SpaceX, and Tesla, Harris has been backed by pop superstar Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Nelson, Eminem, George Clooney, and a host of celebrities.
Trump has also got endorsements from a number of celebrities, including from Black Americans, a traditional Democratic demography.
Trump has been backed by boxing legend Mike Tyson, New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor, and rapper Lord Jamar.
In hosting a rally in conservative Texas with Beyonce and Nelson, the Harris campaign is counting on celebrities’ “ability to transcend traditional politics, Harris aides hope, will deliver the sort of viral content that cuts through a cluttered media environment”, according to Reid J Epstein and J David Goodman of The New York Times.
Epstein and Goodman noted that the Democrats are hoping that the message related to abortion that Harris will give in Texas will reach the battleground states as a warning that what’s happening in Texas and other Republican states will soon happen everywhere if Republicans and Trump win on November 5.