Christian Figueroa isn’t jumping on the Kamala Harris bandwagon. He doesn’t need to: The San Gabriel Valley native has been on board ever since her first presidential campaign sparked his passion for politics when he was 13.

“To say it had an impact on me is definitely an understatement,” Figueroa said, recalling his trip to Los Angeles Southwest College in 2019 to hear the then-U.S. senator speak. “My life is politics. I feel like I sleep, eat and breathe politics.”

Even for young people who aren’t as politically aware, the presidential race — particularly Harris, who officially secured the Democratic nomination this week — has been front and center in the social feeds of young voters through memes and other fan edits featuring her speeches and signature laugh.

Democrats are hoping, whether it’s because of her record or the good vibes online, that young voters will turn out at higher rates and boost Democrats in competitive House races, including in California.

Besides voting for president for the first time, Figueroa, a 19-year-old Stanford student, is trying to do his part by working as an organizer with Youth Save Democracy and as one of the youngest California delegates to the Democratic National Convention later this month, when Harris formally accepts the nomination.

This week, Harris is barnstorming battleground states alongside her new running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a favorite of progressives and young voters. Walz went viral for using “weird” to describe former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Figueroa says that and other Harris memes can only help: “Whether excitement will get you across the line in November or not, certainly from my perspective, it is fueling a lot of the donations, fueling the volunteer base and fueling the grassroots efforts across the country.”

Young voters more excited by Harris than Biden

Since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris on July 21, analysts and young people interviewed by CalMatters agree, the vibe has shifted. Renewed enthusiasm online is one measure.

Another barometer: Polling conducted in the days after Biden’s stunning withdrawal from the race found 72% of registered voters 18 to 29 said they were either “very likely” or “almost certain” to vote in the presidential election. That’s up from 64% in a poll earlier in July.

But perhaps more important, particularly for down ballot candidates, is the flood of donations. Last week, the Harris campaign announced it raised $310 million during July.

Before Biden’s withdrawal, many Democrats worried about the down ballot impacts of an unenthusiastic party base, particularly among young voters.

While the Harris campaign may be flush with cash, it is short on time to reintroduce her to Democratic and undecided voters, with less than 90 days before Nov. 5.

“I think all of the momentum and activities that we’ve been seeing can grab the attention of young people, maybe get them to give her a chance. She still has to have the goods.”
— Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at USC

What’s helping is young people creating viral social content — for free. In recent weeks, coconut emojis, Brat green tinted fancams and “Veep” memes have cast the vice president as a relatable, quirky leader for voters who get their news mostly from their social feeds.

For those not as much in the know, the coconuts are a nod to a viral line from one of Harris’ speeches (“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”), Brat green is the color of British artist Charli XCX’s viral “Brat” album and “Veep” is the HBO comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

“They’re effective for what she’s trying to do, which is create some initial excitement and get some dollar donors in,” said Martin Bertao, chairperson of the California College Republicans and a 19-year-old UC Berkeley student voting in his first presidential election.

Celebrities with followings among young voters are also supporting Harris in ways they were not backing Biden. Appearances by artists like Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo at Harris’ Georgia rally last week were an attempt to portray her as young, vigorous and fun, said Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California.

“I think all of the momentum and activities that we’ve been seeing can grab the attention of young people, maybe get them to give her a chance,” said Romero.

But she stressed that Harris must still lay out a policy platform that young people can believe in: “She still has to have the goods.”

Why young people don’t vote

In California and across the country, those between the ages of 18 and 24, have historically voted at a far lower rate than every other age group.

In the 2020 presidential election, turnout among voters 18 to 29 spiked 11 percentage points to 50%, which was key in helping Biden defeat incumbent Donald Trump. But that was still significantly lower than the 66% turnout for all voters. In California, just 47% of eligible young voters cast ballots, compared to 67% of the entire eligible population.

Nationally, reasons for lower participation include young people’s tendency to move a lot, having class on Election Day and some states not accepting student IDs as a form of identification for voter registration.

But another cause is that young voters may not know their influence, said Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, a get-out-the-vote technology platform.

“Young people are the largest voting bloc in America when they decide to show up, and they have an incredible amount of power, and can really change power dynamics in the United States if they use their voice,” Hailey told CalMatters.

Students register to vote at Sacramento State University in Sacramento on Oct. 20, 2022. Photos by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

There are 41 million Gen Z eligible voters, including 8 million who turned 18 since the 2022 primary elections, equating to about a fifth of the electorate.

The Harris campaign is relying on young voters, who tend to lean more liberal regardless of party affiliation, to boost her campaign in swing states.

Vote.org announced that it saw the largest-ever surge in voter registration in the 10 days after Biden’s announcement. In California, there were 11,583 new Vote.org registrations — 80% of people were between 18 and 34 years of age.

Before that, the biggest spike was in September, when Taylor Swift posted a link to Vote.org on her Instagram story.

“It’s going to give us an edge in tapping into first-time voters, independents and folks that were otherwise going to stay home,” Hailey said of the shakeup at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Which issues do young voters care about?

Harris must still convince California’s young voters, many of them further left than the national party, that she can deliver a progressive agenda on issues they care about.

“One of the key things that sticks out to me is how Harris has been tough on oil and gas corporations in her career,” said Ariela Lara, 18, who lives in the Bay Area and works as an organizer with the Sunrise Movement, an advocacy group on climate action.

Lara said she wants to see Harris go further than Biden on climate issues and commit to declaring a national climate emergency, embrace a “Green New Deal” and end approvals for new oil and gas projects. As vice president, Harris largely agreed with Biden and touted the climate investments made by the Inflation Reduction Act. During her time as California attorney general, she sued automotive and gas companies for environmental violations.

“With her just like getting so much support from young people, there’s also a level where that support comes with expectations,” Lara said.

Olivia Johnson, a 19-year-old studying mass communication at Cal State LA, said that Harris’ stance on gun regulations is important to her: “Her campaign’s been teaching me a lot of things about policies and how they’ve been affecting us — especially gun laws because mass shootings are very scary.”

Johnson said she’s also energized by Harris’ stances on abortion and healthcare, and that she feels better about her first vote in a presidential election than when Biden was the nominee.

“I know a lot of people who had health issues like breast cancer, miscarriages and abortions,” she said. “Having access to health care is really important to me, especially as a lot of people I grew up around are low-income and rely on Medicare.”

“Obviously, Kamala being a younger candidate for the Democrats, it’s definitely going to energize more Gen Z of that typical liberal vote that was considering not coming out.”
— Martin Bertao, chairperson of the California College Republicans

Harris’ generally slight policy differences with Biden could help her with young voters, according to Dean Bonner, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. The war in Gaza is one example where taking a different tone than Biden could win her support from young people passionate about seeing an end to the violence.

Harris was notably absent when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress last month. Then after urging him to pursue a ceasefire during a White House meeting, Harris said she would “not be silent” about the suffering of Palestinians.

Beyond policy, Bonner said that the history Harris could make as the first woman, Asian and woman of color to be president is likely to bring out young people.

“I do think that Harris has fundamentally changed what’s going to happen with the younger folks in this election,” he said.

Will young voters decide the House?

California is solidly Democratic in presidential elections, so Gen Z voters could have a bigger impact further down the ballot, particularly in a half-dozen key U.S. House races.

In 2022, Republicans swung three seats to help the GOP take control of the House. In the 13th District centered on Modesto, Republican John Duarte beat Democrat Adam Gray by just 564 votes — and the youth turnout was only 23%. The pair have a rematch in November, and the results could be different if more young voters show up.

“Obviously, Kamala being a younger candidate for the Democrats, it’s definitely going to energize more Gen Z of that typical liberal vote that was considering not coming out,” said Bertao, the California College Republicans chairman. His organization will be working to bring out young conservatives, particularly conservative leaning Gen Z men, to support Duarte.

Duane Dichiara, a campaign strategist for Duarte, said he isn’t concerned about the potential increase in young voters. “My guess is that in working class districts like CA-13, younger voters are going to be even more inclined to vote Republican because working class people across the board are voting more Republican,” he said.

In each of the other five battleground districts, registered Gen Z voters would have been enough to flip the races, according to data from the Center for Inclusive Democracy.

According to some recent polling, Harris is leading Trump by 18 percentage points among young voters 18-29. When Biden was the nominee, he trailed Trump by 8 percentage points among the same age group. With the top of the ticket generally driving turnout in presidential election years, if large numbers of young people come out to support Harris, it may push other Democrats across the finish line as well.

“You can do everything right, but if the top of the ticket isn’t there, the political climate isn’t there, a lot of voters will stay at home,” said Giovanni Chavez, president of California Young Democrats.

Now, he said, “a lot of these swing district candidates are filled with hope.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.