With the election right around the corner Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have joined the popular social media app TikTok. 

With Kamala HQ’s 4.6 million followers and Team Trump’s 1.8 million followers, a younger generation is joining the election conversation. 

First-time voter Nathan Lewison said that the candidates are “getting with the times.” 

“The only way to get to young voters is by exposure, by being on the platform the young voters are on,” he said. “It’s exposing who the candidates are.”

Their approaches are different, but the two candidates, through TikTok, have showcased their personalities in a way that voters have found to be entertaining.  

“Half of it is to entertain people and show them that the candidates are on TikTok. The other half is encouraging them to vote,” Lewison said. 

While “Team Trump” focuses on facts, “Kamala HQ” focuses on both facts and trends. 

“I think what they post reflects what they believe in but not the trends,” first-time voter Devan Formenti said. 

While these videos are entertaining, it is likely that viewers will only see videos from the candidate that they support because of TikTok’s algorithm.

“You don’t try to look for the videos, they just come up,” Lewison said. 

Harris’ campaign account, Kamala HQ, has taken trending songs on TikTok and added them to videos resulting in thousands of positive comments, including many referring to her videos as “iconic.”

In a recent video posted by Kamala HQ, Harris was shown exiting an airplane in a pantsuit and Converse. The soundtrack was written by Demi Lovato and includes the trending lyrics “who said I can’t wear my Converse with my dress.” The video of Harris changed the lyrics to dress to suit. 

The video garnered 3 million likes and has been viewed over 21 million times. Comments include things like, “I’m obsessed” and “Whoever runs this account is a genius.”

With Taylor Swift’s recent endorsement, Harris has also put the superstar singer’s songs in her videos, including “Long Live.”

“It is entertaining if you see someone with the same views as you,” Formenti said.

On the other hand, the Team Trump account posts campaign highlight, including places Trump travels. Many of his videos are focused on things Harris has done or said.

In one of the most recent Team Trump videos, two screenshots were posted describing the moment President Biden signed a law to ban TikTok nationwide unless it was sold. The caption over the video says “Kamala and her entire campaign use TikTok, despite the fact that her administration passed a law to ban TikTok.”

The account failed to mention that in 2020, while still president, Trump also said he wanted the app banned. 

Betsy Smith, who serves as a precinct and state committeewoman as well as assistant director for the Pima County Republican Party, said that TikTok is not a great way to get information.

“If voters are getting their information solely from TikTok, that’s a really lousy way to inform yourself for either party,” she said, adding that “any political candidate needs to understand various market trends and of course that includes social media.” 

While many of the candidates’ videos are entertaining, they aren’t necessarily influencing young voters to change their vote. 

“I feel like most young people already know who they are voting for. When they are on TikTok, they are going to either comment positively or bash the candidate,” Lewison said. 

Formenti similarly said, “I don’t think there’s a problem with it, but I don’t think they are getting people to change their views from their videos.”

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism