WASHINGTON, D.C. – We are less than three months away from the presidential elections. Now that both Republicans and Democrats have wrapped up their conventions, officially nominating Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for their party’s ticket, political scientists said the conventions had an impact on those crucial independent and uncommitted voters.
Last month, our local delegates said Republicans brought the energy and support for former President Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Last week in Chicago, our local delegates at the Democratic National Convention essentially shared the same feelings towards Vice President Harris.
While both conventions aimed to rally support for their candidates, political scientists believe the DNC did a better job when it came down to appealing to independent or uncommitted voters. Analysts said those voters will be crucial in winning over battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
“I think some of these independent voters were already starting to go for Harris a little after she became the nominee and I think that will continue after this convention because one of the things the Democrats did was show that their party was really open to people of all stripes; independents and Republicans who were speaking there,” said Dr. Todd Belt, Professor and Director of Political Management at George Washington University. “And they really made that pitch and appeal in a way that Republicans didn’t.”
To win the White House in November, Belt said the candidates need to appeal to young voters, too. We saw a handful of content creators at the DNC, many of which have a large social media following. While some content creators were present at the RNC, they weren’t as prominent as they were at the DNC. Belt said reaching that key audience is critical for this election.
“Young voters delivered the White House to Joe Biden and they were the ones Biden was losing in droves,” said Belt. “Harris has brought them back into the fold and she needs to continue to energize that. She’s put a number of 25-year-old people in charge of her TikTok account. She’s going to where these people are which is on TikTok and that’s certainly where Biden was not doing a good job and they’re pursuing a strategy of trying to get under Donald Trump’s skin and trying to poke him a little bit and also being involved in putting in memes of Harris and Walz together and really trying to humanize them and make it a fun campaign for young people in order to continue and juice up their enthusiasm for young people which are absolutely crucial.”