Joe Biden has a few options to try and win back the youth vote that has been fleeing him throughout his presidency. He could promote policies that make it easier for young people to buy a house, have a career, start a family, and pursue the American Dream, or he can post a lot of “memes” online in an effort to make the oldest president in history seem cool.
Earlier in the week, the Biden campaign decided to take the latter route.
Tech Crunch reports that we should prepare for an upcoming onslaught of Twitter posts trying to make a president who often forgets where he seems cool.
That’s what the White House thinks will get Biden over the top.
This is not a joke: According to a job listing, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign needs someone to manage memes. The “Partner Manager, Content and Meme Pages” hire will “initiate and manage day-to-day operations in engaging the internet’s top content and meme pages.” The job pays up to $85,000
Yes, it’s absurd to be a professional meme manager. But in this age, digital organizing is just as valuable as canvassing IRL at a farmers market. If a candidate is trying to meet voters where they are, then they need to be online, where going viral can mean connecting with millions of people. That’s why Biden’s campaign has a TikTok account, even though the president signed a bill that could effectively ban the app.
“I do think that we can and should infuse relevant, trendy and fun moments into how we are communicating, especially on digital platforms,” Annie Wu Henry, a creator and digital communications strategist, told TechCrunch in February. “But while we’re doing that, we need to continue to be strategic and intentional and mindful, even if it’s a meme.”
Even before making this hire, the Biden campaign has already relied on memes to appeal to voters. The Dark Brandon meme, which stems from alt-right conspiracy theories about the president, has been so ubiquitous on Biden’s campaign accounts that it feels stale. But the people seem to love it: Last August, Dark Brandon merch accounted for 54% of the campaign store’s total revenue, according to Axios.
Although the Biden campaign, because it is filled with leftwing, Ivy League staffers, believes that the top issue facing young people is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, who they believe can be won over by putting troops in danger and building a worthless pier, polling has shown otherwise.
The New York Times writes, “Surveys taken in recent months show young voters are more likely to sympathize with Palestinians in the conflict, but few of them rank the Israel-Hamas war among their top issues in the 2024 election. Like other voters, young people often put economic concerns at the top of the list.
In an Economist/YouGov poll taken more recently, in late April, 22 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 listed inflation as their most important issue. Two percent named foreign policy as their top concern.”
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