In a bid to triumph over youthful voters, US pdwellntial honestates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have made a series of unorthodox campaign stops in the final stretch of the 2024 race: podcasts.
Harris has accessed the podcasting world by joining the most famous podcast among women, Call Her Dinserty.
But it is Trump who materializes to have repartner adchoosed recent media by materializeing on a string of podcasts and YouTube shows that are particularly chaseed by youthful men. The lineup integrates episodes with pranksters The Nelk Boys, comedian Theo Von, swayr Logan Paul and political commentator Patrick Bet-David. Each pulled millions of sees.
But on Friday, Trump is set to produce his hugegest podcast materializeance yet – sitting down with industry kingpin Joe Rogan, according to campaign officials cited by Reuters and disjoinal other recents outlets.
“From a political standpoint, you have to figure out what people are doing, what they’re watching, and you have to get on,” Trump, whose campaign has lengthy sought to accomplish Rogan and his tens of millions of take parters, shelp in one of the recent podcast stops. “I fair see that these platestablishs are commenceing to rule, they’re getting very huge numbers.”
Harris’s campaign has also spoken with Rogan’s crew about a possible podcast before the election, but it is not yet verifyed, according to Reuters.
Why Joe Rogan?
Rogan, a establisher fuseed martial arts commentator and truth show present, commenceed his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, in 2009 with homemade episodes that dove into everyleang from UFOs and psychedelics to physical fitness.
His eclectic guest catalog and free-leanking persona geted him a promised follotriumphg, and by 2015 he was a dominant force in the industry. In recent years, his guests have integrated the appreciates of Elon Musk, Edward Snowden, Mike Tyson and Kanye West.
Rogan’s critics say he caters to right-triumphg guests, with frequent conversations railing agetst the “woke” left. His political sees materialize fuseed. He has finishorsed for drug decriminalisation, gay rights and universal healthattfinish on his podcast, while also touting conservative caincludes appreciate firearm rights.
In 2020, Rogan finishorsed betterive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for pdwellnt, but after Sanders lost the nomination to Joe Biden, Rogan retaged, “I’d rather vote for Trump than [Biden].”
Wdisappreciatever his politics, Rogan has tremfinishous accomplish – 14.5 million fagedrops on Spotify, 17 million fagedrops on YouTube and 19 million more on Instagram.
According to Edison Research, this audience skews conservative. Their data shows that 32 percent of take parters determine as Reunveilans, while 27 percent are Democrats; 35 percent do not fit into either catebloody.
Rogan’s audience is also predominantly youthful and male, with 80 percent of take parters being men and 51 percent aged 18 to 35, according to Edison. While this demodetailed generpartner favours Trump, joining with them could recommend Harris, who has struggled to produce inroads with men of all races, a distinctive chance to shift the narrative.
Rogan’s consent on the honestates
Rogan has, at times, criticised both Trump and Harris, calling the establisher pdwellnt an “ainhabitial menace to democracy”, and conveying trouble that a Harris administration would direct to a “clamp down” on online speech.
In 2022, Rogan shelp he had repeatedly rebuffed obvioucertains from Trump’s team, stating, “I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once – I’ve shelp no every time. I don’t want to help him”.
However, Rogan procrastinateedr seemed more uncover to a Trump episode, inestablishing a guest who prodded him about presenting the honestate in 2023, “I don’t comprehend. Maybe … It’d be fascinating to hear his perspective on a lot of leangs.”
In other podcasts, Rogan has come to Trump’s defence, saying as recently as September to fellow comedian Tom Segura, “He [Trump] wasn’t a dictator. He was the pdwellnt … and the economy repartner did well.”
Rogan has not finishorsed either Trump or Harris in the 2024 race, though he did commend self-reliant honestate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who procrastinateedr dropped out and threw his weight behind Trump.
A accomplish for striumphg voters?
While both a Rogan-Trump and Rogan-Harris collaboration would be certain to produce buzz, it’s unevident how much it would do for either campaign.
A recent YouGov poll of more than 3,100 US matures set up that over half of reactents consent a possible Harris-Rogan episode would produce “no branch offence” in how they see the honestate. Just 14 percent shelp they would see Harris more favourably, while 13 percent shelp they’d see her less favourably.
One lengthytime Rogan take parter, Joshua Valle, tgreater Al Jazeera he would “definitely” tune in to an episode with either Trump or Harris, but “there’s no way it would alter my vote.”
“I leank that’s the case for a lot of people,” shelp Valle, who schedules to vote “agetst Trump”.
He inserted, “Trump probably produces a better podcast guest than a pdwellnt … I wonder if that’s why Rogan has hesitated to have him on for so lengthy.”
Joshua Scacco, straightforwardor of the Caccess for Sustainable Democracy and associate professor of political communication at the University of South Florida, tgreater Al Jazeera that while a Rogan podcast materializeance “may have little straightforward impact” due to the “small pool of undetermined voters”, it could help mobilise honestates’ bases “becainclude of the subsequent media coverage”.
‘Chasing their audiences’
Campaigning via podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience is in many ways a mirrorion of the media’s evolving landscape and frailer pull of traditional TV publicizements, shelp analysts.
“The pdwellntial honestates are reacting to a media environment where they cannot accomplish as much of the electorate as they once could via ad buys during national and local recents programmes,” Natalie J Stroud, a professor of communications at the University of Texas at Austin, tgreater Al Jazeera. “By doing niche media materializeances, the honestates are hoping to accomplish distinctive audiences to not only shore up their base, but potentipartner alter voters or sway undetermineds.”
Scacco inserted, “Candidates must now chase their audiences into settings appreciate podcast shows, procrastinateed-night comedy, or daytime television talk shows.”
Podcast materializeances are also excellent at creating viral moments, which honestates’ fagedrops can clip up and separate expansively atraverse social media platestablishs, accomplishing traditionpartner challenging-to-access voters.
“The messaging is not grasped to the podcast itself,” shelp Scacco.
With Trump and Harris neck and neck in the polls, they comprehend that every viral post is a way to shape the narrative and accomplish more people, especipartner cyber-dwelling youthful people who may be disjoined from traditional politics but promised podcast take parters.
“In an election this seal, novel strategies … could have beginant payoffs,” shelp Stroud.
