Many young progressives who were hesitant to usher in another Joe Biden presidency now appear eager to cast their ballots for Vice President Kamala Harris — and they’re turning against fellow leftists online who aren’t on the same page.
In the days since Biden dropped his re-election campaign, progressive circles appeared to celebrate the news and rally behind Harris. But some left-leaning social media users were quick to criticize progressives’ willingness to vote for “ a cop,” and some pro-Palestinian voters argued that Harris’ foreign policy would be just as intolerable as Biden’s.
Soon, however, a slew of TikToks and X posts lambasted the narrative that Harris is on par with former President Donald Trump, listing out numerous ways that they believe a Trump presidency would be worse for marginalized communities at home and abroad. Many also criticized anti-Harris leftists’ seeming inability to come up with a better solution, accusing them of performative activism.
New Jersey-based musician Charley Furey, 28, said he has been fearful about how a second Trump presidency might affect LGBTQ+ rights. He said he wept in relief when Biden — who was too moderate for his tastes — announced that he would step aside, because for the first time in a long time, he felt hopeful that a Democratic nominee could beat Trump.
“Certain leftists want a 100% morally pure option that doesn’t realistically exist in our political system right now. I wish it did but it doesn’t,” said Furey, who also shared his frustration on TikTok. “And it annoys me that rather than use their vote to make a difference in what ways they can, they throw their hands up and say screw the system. It’s a cop-out and completely against what we on the left should stand for.”
Progressives have previously expressed disenchantment with the president’s support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, his climate policies and his efforts to ban TikTok, among other concerns. They’ve similarly criticized Harris in the past for her criminal justice policies as California attorney general and, more recently, for her seeming complicity with Biden’s stance on Israel.
In the wake of the backlash, many online have circulated a viral quote by YouTube political and cultural commentator ContraPoints, uttered during her critique of leftist “resentment politics” in a 2021 video essay: “They don’t want victory, they don’t want power, they want to endlessly ‘critique’ power.”
ContraPoints, whose real name is Natalie Wynn, told NBC News in an interview that this has been a long-running tension among people on the left.
“What we’re having is the same argument that we have every four years, which is: Is the Democrat good enough, or is it a horrible moral compromise to vote for this candidate who doesn’t fulfill XYZ progressive morals?” she said.
Wynn said she tends to be more progressive than the Democratic Party but has shied away from calling herself a leftist because of the “online left” — as many in this camp, she said, have not organized tangible change aside from running what “basically amounts to a voter suppression campaign.”
“Someone who becomes president of the United States inevitably gets someone’s blood on their hands at some point,” Wynn said. “And I think people feel that if they don’t vote, or if they vote for a candidate that they know won’t win, then they never have to shoulder any responsibility for what the government does.”
X user @commodifythis is among the progressives who have criticized Harris voters online. The user, who requested anonymity due to an online stalker, describes herself as a longtime pro-Palestinian advocate and has drawn backlash for her posts stating she would not back Harris unless the candidate calls for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
The Pennsylvania resident, 28, said she doesn’t buy into the “lesser of two evils” argument presented by Harris voters.
“Even if there’s any weight to that argument, it’s just not a convincing one for people who are on the fence. I think that people need a reason to vote for someone besides just that the other person is bad,” she said. “Because I think we are probably in agreement on that, but I need some kind of commitment from Kamala Harris to know that her presidency is going to address all of the things that would be bad about Donald Trump.”
Because of her stance, she said, she has been hit with harsh retorts from other internet users in what she believes is an unempathetic and unconvincing response to her concerns.
“I feel like if I were them, I would maybe say, ‘I hope that she adopts a position that will convince you to vote for her, and if she doesn’t, I hope that there are other positions that convince you to vote for her instead,’” she said, “rather than insulting me or telling me that I’m privileged when you don’t know who I am.”
For many online, the renewed energy around Harris comes from the sentiment that the vice president is more palatable to both progressives and young people at large — making her appear much more electable than Biden.
Amelia Kimball, a college student at the University of Texas at Austin who describes herself as strongly left-leaning, said she’s hopeful about Harris’ candidacy even as she remains critical of her. She said she believes Biden would have had next to no shot of defeating Trump this time around, especially after his fumbling debate in June and a recent assassination attempt that galvanized public support for Trump.
“Kamala Harris, just baseline, is younger, is more lively, can answer questions coherently and immediately. That’s going to make folks more excited about her,” Kimball, 21, said. “I think that Joe Biden had just become so incredibly uninspiring that the bar really was on the floor in terms of what people would be more excited about.”
Wynn noted that most on the left will likely never find a “perfect candidate” in a major presidential nominee.
“Unfortunately, American presidential elections are largely decided by Midwestern swing-state voters and not by socialists on Twitter,” she said. “So that’s why you see candidates tending to say things that don’t feel appealing to socialist Twitter.”
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