“If I’m young, I don’t see anyone right now that captivates me,” Piker told us.
Pollsters and strategists like to argue that Biden won the last election in part because of the young voters who voted for him, but in recent months, polls have suggested his support is flagging. A new set of New York Times/Siena polls released this week also claim that in every battleground state except Wisconsin, Biden is Polls support former President Donald Trumpand the youth vote could be one of the main reasons.
Streamers like Piker are arguably some of the most influential creators on the internet, and there’s no doubt they could have a real impact in 2024. Earlier this week, I spoke with Samuel Drzymala, founder of Progressive Victory, a liberal group working with transmitters on initiatives to get the vote. He told me that Twitch’s format allows for the types of exchanges that can change a person’s mind.
“Long discussion allows for many nuances and details to be discussed and creates greater understanding, as if these people are educating their audiences when they choose to talk about topics,” Drzymala said.
Progressive Victory’s approach to translating online activism into real life has proven successful. At a recent canvassing event in Ohio, the group was able to gather around 20 streamers and 300 volunteers to knock on 40,000 doors for state progressives.
“They have built communities around their personalities and the way they speak to their audiences,” Drzymala said. “The live nature allows creators to ask really compelling questions of their audiences and can get people to take huge amounts of action.”
Unlike Drzymala’s group, Piker focuses more on issue advocacy than electoral politics. Although he sometimes encourages his followers to vote in down elections, his highest priorities are the causes he cares about.
“I think my impact is much more important when it comes to Chipotle unionizing in Lansing, Michigan. I went to the UCLA camp and every SJP and JVP student I met told me, ‘I’m here because I started watching you in 2020 and you really broadened my horizons,’” Piker told us.
That impact won’t come to Biden’s campaign anytime soon. The Biden campaign declined to comment on what Hasan said about the vote, but he has made significant investments in his relationships with influential people who support him, as we have discussed several times in this newsletter. But it is a video with Luke Skywalker More effective than deeply engaged online communities? I guess we’ll find out.
The chat room
On Monday I spoke with Erin Hattamer, a comedian on TikTok with over 1.6 million followers. For the past two weeks, she has spearheaded a program called #PassTheHat, which pairs creators like her with families in Gaza to raise money to evacuate, pay medical bills, or rebuild their lives.
The grassroots group Operation Olive Branch finds and verifies families in need, and as of this week, Hattamer has connected more than 700 Palestinian families with online creators. Once a creator is linked with a family, the creator will continue posting about them and their GoFundMes until they reach their goals.