Harris and Trump’s Much-Hyped Podcast Appearances Aren’t Transforming the Election: Poll

The hype surrounding how podcast appearances by candidates are reworking the 2024 presidential election cycle is now being questioned after some dismal numbers present in a brand new ballot present that few voters have been listening to the much-touted appearances from Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump over the previous few weeks.

With polling persistently displaying the two candidates locked in a useless warmth, Harris and Trump’s campaigns have shifted from previous methods and included non-traditional media appearances in a number of varieties. A significant a part of this shift is podcast appearances, as youthful voters have shifted away from conventional media designed for mass audiences, the place powerful questions could also be off the desk throughout extra inflexible interviews, and towards social media and podcasts, the place algorithms feed readers what they need and an absence of conventional guidelines and requirements enable for a extra uncooked dialogue. 

The technique could have fallen flat for each candidates, although. Polling from USA At this time/Suffolk College reveals fewer than 30 p.c of respondents heard both candidate’s visitor spots on standard podcasts, like Harris’ much-touted Name Her Daddy visitor spot, the place she and host Alex Cooper mentioned abortion care in America or her dialog with DJ Charlamagne tha God on All the Smoke; Trump, for his half, guested on This Previous Weekend with Theo Von and Flagrant — although his staff has included podcast or streamer interviews for a while, having sat for interviews with “bro” tradition heroes, together with YouTuber Logan Paul in June and reside streamer Adin Ross in August.

The ballot, which requested 1,000 respondents about the candidates’ podcast appearances, confirmed that just about 72 p.c stated that they had not seen Harris on a podcast, and 77.5 p.c stated that they had not seen a Trump look. For individuals who heard Harris on a podcast, 51 p.c stated that what they noticed made them much less more likely to vote for her versus 34 p.c who stated it made them extra more likely to vote for her; 13 p.c stated their vote plans remained unchanged. For Trump, the identical questions concerning voting plans after listening to his podcast interviews confirmed 49.5 p.c stated they’re now extra more likely to vote for the former president and 28 p.c stated they’re much less more likely to vote for him; 21.5 p.c stated their vote stays the identical. 

The ballot’s methodology could reply questions on the dismal numbers for each candidates’ attain in making these podcast appearances. Harris and Trump had been each courting a youthful demographic when strategizing round non-traditional information sources, and podcasts and streaming platforms are way more standard with younger voters than with folks in older demographic teams. The viewers for Name Her Daddy, for instance, is reportedly 76 p.c ladies beneath 35. But the ballot, performed between Oct. 14 and Oct. 18, “was based on live telephone interviews of adults 18 years of age or older.” Whereas the ages of every respondent and many different components round these polled is unknown, the imply age of respondents is more likely to fall in the 40–50-year vary.

Whereas these probably dismal, however perhaps as-expected, numbers might affect future marketing campaign methods round podcasts, it’s not altering the urge for food proper now for each Harris and Trump’s groups to achieve a slot on the primary podcast in the nation: The Joe Rogan Expertise. Trump is taping an look on the massively standard interview present on Friday after Harris had been reported to be in discussions with Rogan to do the identical. The vice chairman’s staff reportedly met with Rogan’s crew final week to debate a potential sit down. Neither Harris or Rogan’s camp would affirm or deny the studies at the time; nevertheless, that was earlier than Trump’s Rogan look was then introduced.

The USA At this time/Suffolk College ballot confirmed Harris with a 1 p.c edge over Trump, commanding 45 p.c to Trump’s 44 p.c help from voters polled; the ballot has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 proportion factors, so the outcomes are basically a tie between the two candidates.