Trump outpaces Biden and RFK Jr. on TikTok in race for young voters

Less than a week later joining TikTokFormer President Donald Trump’s followers on the app have dwarfed those of his opponents in the presidential race, with his account amassing 5.6 million followers and racking up more than 87 million views on his first video.

A President Biden campaign account has 360,100 followers. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who joined the platform before any of the major candidates, has 1.3 million followers.

The presence of the two major party candidates on TikTok underscores their role in helping campaigns connect with young voters ahead of the November elections. While a third of Americans are on TikTok, 62% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use the app, according to the Pew Research Center. New voting shows that Biden has a narrow margin over Trump among Americans aged 40 and under. In between battle field States, voters under 30 are less likely than older voters to say they will definitely turn out this year. And those who are likely to vote will be more likely to consider third-party candidates.

Their TikTok accounts also highlight the complicated relationship they both have with the app. As president in 2020, Trump tried to ban the platform with an executive order that was suspended by the court. Recently, he changed his stance and said that opposes a ban.

In April, Biden signed legislation that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a ban in the US. The president does not have an individual personal account or an official White House account, but his campaign launched a “Biden-Harris” account in February. RFK Jr. was openly against the TikTok ban.

Kennedy and Trump’s popularity on TikTok is unique among politicians. Only two the sitting members of Congress — Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — have more followers than Kennedy, and neither has as many as Trump.

Recent polls indicate that Kennedy is performing well with young voters, many of whom are on TikTok. A New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena survey in May found that 26% of Kennedy supporters said they use TikTok frequently, more than Biden (15%) and Trump (14%). Eighteen percent of respondents under 30 said they support Kennedy over Trump or Biden.

The Biden campaign launched a TikTok account in February, but it did not achieve the same reach as Kennedy. The campaign’s videos got, on average, half as many likes and three-quarters of the views as Kennedy’s.

Campaign accounts on social media platforms typically achieve less traction than individual accounts. The Biden campaign chose to launch its account “to use every tool we have to reach young voters where they are,” a campaign official said, adding that the reelection effort has “hired dozens of staffers who work every day to develop content” for your social media accounts.

When asked why the Trump campaign decided to join the platform now, spokesman Steven Cheung gave a similar reason, writing that “the Trump team will leave no front undefended” and that the account is another step in its effort to reach young voters.

Trump’s instant success on the platform reflects a trend that TikTok’s own researchers have allegedly observed: In recent months, there has been twice as much pro-Trump content as pro-Biden content on the app.

However, TikTok’s success may not translate into votes. TikTok data shows that the #Biden2020 hashtag was used in 1.6 million posts, compared to 2.9 million posts that used the #Trump2020 hashtag.

Trump’s social media presence has largely been on his own platform, Truth Social, where many prominent accounts are posted. tilted to the rightSo your decision to join TikTok could help you reach a more popular audience on social media.

But Trump could also use the platform to spread falsehoods, as he did on Truth Social. He has repeatedly denied the validity of the 2020 presidential election in his Truth Social posts and blamed the Biden administration for his “silence” trial, which was prosecuted by the Manhattan district attorney.

Kennedy, who is known for amplifying conspiracy theories about vaccines and COVID-19, used TikTok to spread misinformation.

Most of Kennedy’s videos focus on his own introduction to voters and his role as an independent candidate. He repeatedly reminds viewers that they don’t have to choose between “the lesser of two evils” in November and can vote for him.

The Biden campaign’s approach to the platform took on a different tone. The account has adopted audio clips and viral memes, and most of the videos highlight Trump’s political mistakes or plans. Of his more than 200 videos, 75% reference or portray Trump. Your second most viewed video showed Trump at a rally in South Carolina, where he said, “These lights are so bright in my eyes I can’t see many people out there. I can only see black people.” The video, captioned “…huh,” has racked up 6.7 million views.

Trump posted just one video on Wednesday afternoon: a 13-second clip filmed at the Ultimate Fighting Championship announcing the launch of his account.

“It’s an honor,” Trump said at the video, when UFC CEO Dana White announced his arrival on TikTok. The clip ends with Trump speaking to someone off camera, saying, “It was a good visit, right?”