Staff Writer Pola Janowska examines the growing influence of podcasts in political campaigning, analysing how Trump and Harris strategically leveraged long-form media appearances to connect with voters and shape public opinion in the 2024 US Presidential Election.
“The Podcast Election” – That’s how Bloomer’s Ashley Carman described the 2024 US Presidential Election. Trump and Harris sought prestigious podcast appearances in the monumental election, but why?
YouGov estimated that 37% of adults in the US have listened to podcasts in the last 30 days. In an era of divided opinions and increasing media fragmentation, podcasts offered last year’s candidates something no other mass media could – engaging mass audiences and allowing podcasts to influence significant population segments. Their main advantage is that they can attract a loyal audience with a trusting attitude toward the hosts of their favourite shows.
Voters no longer trust traditional media forms, or at least not as much as they did in the past. Podcasts give listeners the illusion that they know and relate to podcast hosts. This is precisely the reason why podcast hosts like Alex Cooper and Joe Rogan had an incredibly valuable sway on the opinion polls.
Two podcasts come to mind when we think about the influential media appearances of both candidates in last year’s US election. Trump was a guest at “The Joe Rogan Experience” hosted by the comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, and Harris sat down with Alex Cooper, this generation’s Oprah, for a “Call Her Daddy” interview. Both shows significantly influenced voters, and it is essential to analyze why this has occurred.
Susie Wiles, the director of Trump’s campaign and now his White House Chief of Staff, prioritised podcast interviews as the candidate’s most important media appearances. Trump appeared on 14 major podcasts and streams during his election campaign, including “The Joe Rogan Experience” (where his running mate was also a guest), Logan Paul’s “Impulsive”, and Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend”. All the shows above have predominantly young male audiences and amassed a whopping 68 million views on YouTube alone.
The 2024 US Presidential Election was characterised by a historic shift to the right end of the political spectrum, especially along the young male demographic. Partial responsibility for this monumental change lies in the hands of “The Mighty and Powerful Joe Rogan,” as Trump described the podcast magnate during a speech to thank his supporters at the Palm Beach Country Convention Centre.
According to a study by the University of Sydney, Trump’s and Wiles’s podcast strategy boosted his support by 1% to 2.6%, with more than half of this linked to Rogan’s platform. Trump’s interview with Rogan reached 46 million views on YouTube alone. The candidate sat down for a long-form interview, which lasted 3 hours, where he discussed his mistakes during his first term in the White House and future policy proposals.
Rogan has a predominantly young audience, with 81% male listeners. The podcaster makes an effective connection with young men, promoting toxic masculinity through “bro-ey” jokes. His long-format content is relatable, which allowed it to successfully bypass traditional media, making TV appearances ever so less relevant.
Harris’s appearance on “Call Her Daddy” similarly gained a lot of media attention, although it was arguably less influential on opinion polls than Trump’s interview with Rogan. During the interview, which was shorter and lasted 40 minutes, Cooper focused on the candidate’s view on abortion and women’s rights. It is essential to distinguish the key differences between the two shows and establish why Trump’s interview may have arguably won him the 2024 election.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” has been Spotify’s number 1 podcast in the charts for several years, whereas “Call Her Daddy” holds 5th in the ranking. According to Newsweek, 35% of Rogan’s audience is independent of “something else,” whereas most of Cooper’s audience is Democratic (48%). In contrast, about 35% of the audience may have benefitted Trump, giving him sway to attract undecided voters. The nature of the audience rather than the popularity of the podcasts was of particular importance.
Although this media form is new, it has been present for some time. People are more hooked on podcasts than ever before. The loneliness epidemic during the lockdown in 2020 boosted their popularity, allowing people to spend multiple hours listening to comfort media personalities. Podcasts give listeners a unique experience of being able to listen to long-format conversations while engaging in everyday tasks. Podcasts allow members of society and, simultaneously, voters to build trust with their favourite hosts, allowing this media form to be a highly effective campaign tool.
