Trump Campaign Targets Gen Z With Late Snapchat Push

The Trump campaign has launched its first Snapchat ad of the 2024 election cycle, aiming to connect with Gen Z and millennial voters just days before the election, signaling a last-minute effort on a platform important to Vice President Kamala Harris, Newsweek reported.

Snapchat boasts over 100 million users in the United States — 80% of whom are of voting age — and has become a critical space for political campaigns to reach younger voters. Before dropping out of the race in July, President Joe Biden invested around $1.5 million in Snapchat advertising, while the Harris campaign has since spent $7.8 million on the platform.

The Trump campaign's new ads feature the former president in a clip in which he asks, "Who needs to vote?" before giving a thumbs-up gesture. This ad references a viral moment from a visit to a 9/11 memorial in New York City with his running mate, JD Vance.

In 2020, Trump spent $268,000 on the platform, beginning much earlier in that election cycle.

Snapchat's history with Trump has been contentious.

The platform banned his account following the Jan. 6 Capitol unrest, a ban that remains in place. However, the Trump campaign can purchase political advertisements on Snapchat, subject to the company's fact-checking protocols. This has led to criticism from Trump's team, which has accused the platform of bias in favor of the Harris campaign.

Harris' digital presence on Snapchat has been marked by ads criticizing Trump's stance on issues like abortion. Many of her ads use engaging formats, such as clips set to her campaign theme song, Beyoncé's "Freedom," and interactive "assignments" that encourage younger voters to research Trump's policies. Her campaign also uses visual storytelling, highlighting Trump's legal challenges and Harris' political journey.

Meanwhile, Trump has focused on other platforms with a younger male audience, such as interviews with online personalities like the Nelk Boys and Joe Rogan. He has even joined TikTok despite his previous criticisms of the platform's ties to China.

Despite the effort to connect with younger voters on Snapchat, the scale of Trump's ad spending remains small compared to platforms like Facebook and Google, where both campaigns have invested tens of millions. Harris' higher spending on Snapchat mirrors her campaign's stronger fundraising efforts and broader digital strategy.

Snapchat's user demographics present both opportunities and challenges for the candidates.

According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, the platform's users include a mix of political ideologies. Along party lines, 51% identify as Democrats or lean that way, while 41% favor Republicans. The platform is also notably younger and more female than Facebook and YouTube, which have more conservative and male-leaning audiences.