“Vibe shift”: Young Texas voters, motivated by Kamala Harris, lock into the presidential election

Sign up for the We the Texans newsletter to receive twice-monthly updates on our year-long initiative dedicated to boosting civic engagement and chronicling how democracy is experienced in Texas.

For Kaylee Caudle, 19, the vibes around the election were off.

This Nov. 5 is the first time Caudle will be old enough to cast a ballot in a presidential election. She won’t vote for former President Donald Trump; his rhetoric and conservative policies don’t line up with her values, she said, especially on issues like reproductive rights and the environment. So for a lack of better options she expected to vote for President Joe Biden, even though she thought he was a little too old to run again.

“It was hard to get excited when everyone seemed so depressed about the election,” said Caudle, a sophomore at Rice University. “The vibe wasn’t there.”

Then came the memes.

In July, Caudle’s social media feeds were flooded with clips of Vice President Kamala Harris’ speeches overlaid with synth-pop beats and viral dance sequences. Pop star Charlie XCX declared “kamala is BRAT,” a key endorsement that rang out across her Generation Z fandom. In a nod to a now-viral speech where Harris quoted her mother saying “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree,” coconut emojis rained across TikTok. All of a sudden, the election was fun.

Caudle says Harris’ ascendancy to the top of the Democratic ticket jump-started her excitement to cast her first vote this November — and encourage friends and family to get registered, too.

“The memes are ridiculous, but they’re really catchy and a good way of reminding people that this is a great candidate who isn’t like 80 years old and also has good policies,” Caudle said.

The new matchup between Trump and Harris is helping Democrats close the enthusiasm gap, in part by capturing the attention and interest of young voters who historically vote at lower rates than older generations. But the historic nature of Harris’ candidacy as the party’s first Black woman and South Asian presidential nominee, coupled with the rapid shift in the campaign’s tone, has young voters of all political stripes taking a hard look — some for the first time — at the role they could play in November.

“I feel like with a female president, it's a whole new perspective. You see it from a different angle,” said Daijha Davis, a sophomore at Texas Southern University. Davis, who will also cast her first ever ballot this November, said she hadn’t paid much attention to Trump or Biden’s records in office and had been a “little torn” on her vote. But the Harris campaign’s revitalized social media presence has won her over and she is now prepared to vote for Harris.

If motivated, Gen Z voters could have a major impact on elections. Texas’ population has the second youngest median age of any state, other than Utah. And in 2020, there were about 1.3 million Texans ages 18 to 24 who were registered to vote. Those voters have historically turned out to vote at rates lower than any other age range, with voter participation rates increasing steadily as age ranges increase.

About 43% of young Texans aged 18-29 voted in 2020 — an 11 point increase from 2016; 66% of all eligible voters and 76% of eligible voters age 64 and older voted that same year.

Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, predicted that Harris’ rise would help Democrats “enormously” with young Texans, who are especially concentrated in urban areas and disproportionately non-white. They might not be able to swing a presidential election on their own, he said, but could influence down ballot races.

“Harris can speak to young people's issues in a way that neither of the other two candidates can,” Suri said, citing gun violence and reproductive rights as top issues. “She's in the cultural, social, educational world of young people, much more than the two old men.”

The social media presence whirlwind surrounding Harris has engaged young Democrats, said Olivia Julianna, a Houston-based Gen Z influencer.

“So many young people who have kind of been filled with dread or not knowing what was going to happen ... now have so much energy and are so excited, not just to vote for Kamala but also volunteer and make videos,” Julianna said.

But Gen Z isn’t monolithically supporting Democrats. Nationally, polling shows that Gen Z men are more conservative than previous generations. The ideology gap between young men and women has widened as reproductive rights have become one of the top issues for women and younger men feel more welcomed in the Republican party. Polls earlier this year have shown Biden losing support among young voters to Trump.

Those young conservatives are likely to be as repelled by Harris’ candidacy as they were with Biden’s, regardless of their age, said Sam Somogye, executive director of the Texas Young Republicans.

Harris’ handling of immigration issues and her stance on gun rights would be particularly alienating to young Texans, Somogye predicted.

“Saying she wants to ban assault rifles and attack the Second Amendment is not going to play well,” said Somogye. “Whoever advised her to come to Texas, of all places and say that clearly shows that her campaign and the Biden administration is grossly out of touch with the American people and especially Texas voters.

Arshia Papari, a sophomore at UT-Austin, said he had been undecided between voting for Biden or a third-party candidate, citing the Biden Administration’s support for Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war despite the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

While Biden has repeatedly called for an end of the war, the U.S. has continued to support Israel through military aid and diplomatic backing. The war has become a flashpoint for many college campuses, with many young progressives leading protests to support a free Palestine and calling on universities to divest from companies tied to Israel and weapons manufacturing.

Despite his frustration at the Biden administration’s response, Papari has come around to supporting Harris. The vice president is not only younger, but seems more open to listening to young voters’ concerns, he said.

Harris said last month that she would “not be silent” about the humanitarian toll of more than 39,000 people killed during the campaign in Gaza.

“I would like her to take further action and decisive action to pull US support for Israel’s atrocities and bring us back to the right side of history,” Papari said of Harris, adding that she seems “more empathetic on the Gaza issue” than Biden or Trump.

Fatima Qasem, a senior at the University of Houston, disagreed. “Based on Kamala’s actions, or inaction, we have not seen evidence of her policy being different from Biden’s.”

Qasem, 19, said that many students who consider the Israel-Hamas war a central issue are unlikely to be swayed by Harris’ candidacy. Only a call for a permanent ceasefire and withholding of all aid from Israel would persuade such voters to support Harris, said Qasem, a member of her campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

Many SJP chapters are politically neutral and do not advocate on behalf of or against candidates, Qasem said. Still, her chapter has encouraged young people to consider a range of options outside of voting, including supporting third party candidates, or not voting at all.

Sneha Kesevan, 21, is one of those young voters who are undecided between voting for Harris or a third-party candidate.

The pre-med student at UT-Austin, said she too noticed a “vibe shift” upon Biden’s withdrawal but wanted to see more evidence that a Harris administration would actually put an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“What are you going to do to stop it? Instead of just saying, like, we need to end this war,” Kesavan said. “Even if she is saying something and still doesn't lead to the action, then what does [Harris] believe?”

She would have a better understanding of Harris' positions, Kesavan said, if there had been any debates or primary process. Before the Democratic Party anointed Harris as the nominee – there were talks between party leaders of the idea of having a mini-primary if Biden decided to drop out.

“I really wanted to see how that pan[ned] out,” Kesavan said. “The idea of a mini party convention sounds more democratic.”

Disclosure: Rice University, Texas Southern University - Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune answering reader questions about 2024 elections. To share your question or feedback with us, you can fill out this form.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations on topics covering education, the economy, Texas and national politics, criminal justice, the border, the 2024 elections and so much more. See the full program.