‘This social media play worked because we talked to very specific niche audiences through the content creators that the public was listening to.’ //

The evolution of technology and media has consistently changed how political campaigns reach prospective voters.

First it was through partisan newspapers and political cartoons. Then came the explosion of radio and television. And now, candidates find themselves navigating the vast Internet landscape in their bid to get voters to the polls.

While the embrace of social media was a notable feature of Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s respective presidential campaigns, the 2024 contest revolutionized the way in which candidates engage new voters across Big Tech platforms. //

Working behind the scenes was Vote4America, a get-out-the-vote venture launched earlier this year that partners with conservative-leaning content creators. In collaboration with these influencers, the group sought to engage unregistered and low-propensity voters favorable to Republican causes ahead of the 2024 contest, such as those who listen to programs about outdoor sports (hunting and fishing) and veterans’ issues.

“This [was] not a ‘Turnout your base’ [election]. This [was] a ‘Go find new voters and low propensity voters and get them to the polls’ [election]. And it was the low-propensity voters that we have been focusing on the whole time, ” Vote4America spokesman Stephen Aaron told The Federalist. //

A post-election Navigator Research survey among 5,000 self-identified 2024 general election voters notably found that a significant percentage of swing voters and new Trump voters received their news from non-corporate media sources. According to a poll summary, “Leading up to the election, 45 percent of ‘swing voters’ and 52 percent of new Trump voters cited getting their news through social media, a far greater share than the national electorate (37 percent).”

“Alternative news sources like social media and podcasts were much more prevalent among ‘swing voters’ (52 percent) and new Trump voters (59 percent) compared to the overall electorate (43 percent),” the summary reads. //

Aaron claimed the biggest hurdle for Vote4America was getting election strategists to understand that it was “low propensity voters [who] were going to swing this election” and “that talking to low propensity voters over social media was going to be the most effective way to do that.” //

The 2024 election “was largely the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate, where after that debate, if you could not perform on TV, you could not succeed in politics,” Aaron said. “And what we’re going to see [moving forward] is that if you can’t perform on these long-form, authentic platforms [and] can’t be yourself … you’re not going to be able to perform in politics.” //

“Trump has largely removed shame from politics, and so you don’t have to be quite as concerned anymore about, ‘Oh, am I going to say the wrong thing?'” Aaron said. “There wasn’t one candidate in this election cycle who lost his election because of a one-sentence slip in an interview or on a podcast. So, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. What you have to worry about is: Can you be yourself in front of an unfiltered, raw audience?”