Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Kamala Harris heads to Georgia today for the first time since announcing her presidential bid, with all eyes on a potential VP pick and her campaign flying high after hauling in a record $200 million in a week, mainly from new donors. With Harris the likely Democratic nominee, the US election finally has two candidates who can match each other meme for meme. Trump projects a larger-than-life masculinity online, trolling his adversaries and aligning himself with pro-wrestlers, while Harris’s “coconut-pilled” antics appeal to a demographic that leans feminine and progressive. This is emblematic of the growing gender divide in this election, particularly among younger and first-time voters. A WSJ survey found that 50 per cent of men under 29 now support Trump, up 14 percentage points from 2020, while 58 per cent of women under 29 leaned Democrat when Biden was the nominee – a figure that could increase under Harris, a prominent campaigner for women’s reproductive rights. It follows an international trend of young men turning right politically, while women become more liberal.
