With just weeks left until Americans head to the polls in the November election, former President Trump and Vice President Harris are largely avoiding traditional media in the final stages of their campaign, still making decisions. The government is stepping up efforts to attract new, undecided voters.
Harris' recent media appearances include the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” hosted by Alex Cooper, and “All the Smoke,” hosted by two former NBA stars.
Meanwhile, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will soon appear on “SmartLess,” hosted by Hollywood actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.
President Trump targeted primarily young male audiences with shows such as “All In” and the “Rex Fridman Podcast,” hosted by comedian Theo Fung and social media influencer Logan Paul. He began his shocking appearance.
Harris is now reportedly toying with the idea of appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the most widely listened to podcasts in the world, to reach a primarily male audience.
Samuel Woolley, affiliate faculty fellow at the Center for Media Engagement, said presidential campaigns and candidates must rely on different forms of media to reach hard-to-reach independent voters. He said he was aware of it.
“A lot of times, they're not tuning into NBC or Fox. Those people are listening to specific podcasts that are tailored to their interests. We're not talking about small podcasts. “We're talking about a podcast that has millions of listeners,” he told The Hill.
According to media research firm Edison Research, “The Joe Rogan Experience'' has the most listeners to a podcast in the United States. “Call Her Daddy” is No. 7 and “SmartLess” is No. 8. Trump also recently appeared on the podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show,” which ranks No. 13 among U.S. listeners, Edison said.
Some observers believe that Harris and Trump's foray into the podcast space at this stage in the election is aimed at targeting voters whose voices may be unheard, difficult to reach, or whose support they feel confident about. It is analyzed that this is a sign of concern about reaching the department.
“Presidential campaigns often look to each other to see who will be the first to try something new in the media. We've seen Harris join TikTok and spend a lot of time there. And all of a sudden, we started seeing more of President Trump and his campaign and his surrogates,” Woolley said.
Mr. Harris' appearance on “Call Her Daddy” was also strategic, Mr. Woolley added. Cooper says his audience is 70% female, more than three-quarters are under 35, and 93% of listeners are under 45.
Shannon C. McGregor, an associate professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said these podcasts also give candidates a better understanding of who they are as individuals.
“Listeners can get a better sense of who the candidates are than a CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, especially if they're not into politics.”
People who listen to these podcasts also have a “parasocial” relationship with the hosts, McGregor added.
“They feel like they know the person because they hear the story weekly or more often in this fairly intimate format,” McGregor explained.
“I think the candidates are trying to take advantage of their relationships with podcasters that people listen to and try to get a little bit of a ripple effect from that.”
The podcast media onslaught comes as early voting has already begun in several states, including key battleground states like Arizona and Georgia. Recent polls also show Harris and Trump in a very close race to the finish line.
The Hill/Decision Desk's tally of more than 250 polls shows Harris leading Trump by 2.9 percentage points.
A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that when asked who they would choose to be president if the election were held today, Harris leads Trump by nearly 1.5 percentage points among registered voters. It turned out that Harris received nearly 48% support, while Trump received more than 46% support.
Doug Hay, a Republican strategist, told The Hill that the proliferation of podcasts with huge listenership numbers makes them a natural target for politicians looking to make deep connections with their audiences. Ta.
“You can't do Joe Rogan for 30 minutes. You're in there for a long time,” Hay said.
“This is a great way to reach a very large audience,” he said, but “if something goes wrong it could backfire, and that's a challenge for both candidates.” I warned you.
The Harris campaign wants to leave all communication options open and wants to try everything, Toby Berkowitz, an associate professor at Boston University's School of Advertising, told The Hill.
“They started out in liberal-friendly media. Now Harris has moved into different areas, including co-starring with Bret Baier, so a podcast makes a lot of sense because it's a different Because it's an audience that other channels might not be able to reach. So I think they're desperate to reach potential mobile voters,” Berkowitz said.
Hay argued that it was a mistake on the part of the Harris campaign to strategically reduce Walz's media appearances.
“They need to step up their efforts to get people out on the ground as much as possible. But again, to rally your supporters, not just your own base, they're trying to corner you.” We have to attack voters as well,” Hay said.
Although Harris' campaign has faced criticism for not including the vice president in media appearances, Berkowitz believes the latest media blitz is “a little too late.”
“Right now, with early voting, we have to start communicating at the last minute. There are many ways to vote by Election Day, including mail-in voting. So now is the time to encourage people who can't wait until Election Day to vote again. “The strength of podcasting is that you can reach a unique audience. It's a very close-knit group of people who listen to a particular podcast from a political perspective,” he added.
Hay said the obvious strategy for Trump and Harris if they want to connect with a large audience is to go to the world's most popular podcasts.
Rogan's show had a total of 14.5 million followers on Spotify, according to figures reported by Bloomberg in March. And his following is largely male, a demographic that Harris has struggled to capitalize on.
Hay told The Hill that Harris can't win this race by staying in her comfort zone, and that so far, “most of what we've seen her do in the media has been a result of her comfort zone.” It’s the zone,” he said.
“Regardless of what happened at that rally, the Trump campaign is not as concerned as the Harris campaign,” Hay said of Trump's decision to cut off questions at Monday's town hall and instead play music for his supporters. He spoke with a trembling voice, referring to the decision. The event ended after being on stage for over 30 minutes.
Hay said Trump is “not necessarily trying to attract new voters like Harris is.”
