Donald Trump was joined for his post-midnight election victory address by his family; his running mate, J.D. Vance; House Speaker, Mike Johnson; and, co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. One apparent outlier was Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Speaking third, White thanked YouTube pranksters the Nelk Boys, Louisianan stand-up comedian and podcaster Theo Von, Kick streamer Adin Ross, and “the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.” Given the US election result, White’s description of the hugely popular podcaster seems apt.
In the leadup to November 5th, both Kamala Harris and Trump scheduled a string of sit downs with an eclectic mix of influencers, sports players, comedians, and media personalities. It’s not hard to understand why. Almost half of Americans — an estimated 135 million people —say they listen to a podcast monthly, which is more than twice the share who said the same in 2016, during Trump’s first presidential run. On Election Day, the two top streamers, right-wingers Dan Bongino and Steven Crowder, raked in around half a million viewers each, exceeding all media companies except for Fox and NBC.
The election results indicate the candidates did not garner equal success tapping into this new media space.
The election results indicate the candidates did not garner equal success tapping into this new media space.
The porous ecosystem of the podcasting and streaming “manosphere” abuts stand-up comedy, mixed martial arts, and online bro culture, and it elevates figures such as Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro, and Jordan Peterson, who offer unapologetic claims for traditional gender roles and sorties against “wokeism.” Rogan might be the gravitational center around which this ecosystem orbits, and it contours well with Trump’s anti-establishment message and rebuke of mainstream media. The long and unstructured form of Rogan’s and adjacent podcasts, and their politically and dispositionally sympathetic hosts, allows Trump’s loose rhetorical style—his self-described “weave”—to land for audiences familiar with, and wanting, spontaneity and jocular flow. It seems likely that these appearances helped him to propel traditionally low-propensity young male voters to the ballot box.
In his bid to court the so-called “bro vote,” Trump engaged dozens of podcasters and streamers on the political fringe that share a common audience of young, politically disengaged men. In the final days of the campaign, Trump—followed by Vance, then billionaire backer Musk—appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, America’s most-consumed podcast, which culminated in Rogan offering his endorsement of the Republican ticket, arguably the zenith for a U.S. presidential election where nontraditional media played an unprecedented role.
The Trump campaign’s media strategy appears to have paid off. Trump scored massive gains among young men, winning this demographic 49% to Harris’ 47%. This marks a dramatic swing from 2020, when Joe Biden picked up most of the young male vote (52% to Trump’s 41%).
Trump also made significant inroads in wresting away votes from traditional Democratic constituencies. According to exit polls, Latino men veered to Trump in higher numbers than ever before, across red and blue states alike. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ edge among Black men was blunted enough to tip the scale in Trump’s favor in key swing states such as Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
There are few signs that Harris’ approach to nontraditional media benefited her campaign, despite early enthusiasm among young people on social media. An appearance with Rogan, which was reportedly on the cards, ultimately fell through after the two parties were unable to agree on interview conditions. This was viewed by some as a missed opportunity for her campaign to engage with young men.
Harris’ strategy instead largely focused on reaching Independent and moderate Republican women through appearing on shows like Call Her Daddy, a podcast that is hugely popular among women, most of whom are young and a sizeable chunk are Independent voters. And Harris’ interviews with former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson for their podcast All the Smoke were seen as an attempt to shore up support among Black men.
Harris hemorrhaged votes to Trump on all fronts. The gender gap, though notably wide among young people, did not reach the historic margins that were expected in the so-called “gender election.” Even among cohorts that Harris won — such as Black men, women, and young voters — she secured a far slimmer margin of victory compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Biden in 2020.
Even among cohorts that Harris won — such as Black men, women, and young voters — she secured a far slimmer margin of victory compared to Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Biden in 2020.
As journalist Seema Mehta notes, the focus on non-traditional outlets this election cycle reflects the evolution of campaign “microtargeting,” tailoring a message to specific blocs of voters rather than the masses. The benefits of engaging with these non-traditional outlets seem clear: cutting through a saturated media market; leveraging the parasocial relationships between hosts and their fans; less chance of pushback than from a trained journalist.
It also indicates just how ubiquitous “new media” has become, and their movement from the fringe to the center. Future campaign strategists will continue to adapt to a mediascape beyond the world of prime-time interviews and broadcast advertising. Trump’s victory suggests that they will need to reckon with its gendered structure and composition that, for the most successful shows, speak to the desires and interests of young men.