Democrats Gaming with the Youth=Youth gaming the polls
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez streaming “Among Us” to get out the vote October 20th
If 2020 has shown us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected, and one of the most unexpected things to come out of this year was how a few elected officials used livestream gaming to reach the country’s younger generation.
With streaming/gaming quickly rising to the forefront of media, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY -14th) decided to stream herself (along with other congressmen like Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and big streamers like Pokimane) playing Among Us in an effort to increase voting awareness leading up to Election Day. Ocasio-Cortez’s first ever Twitch stream quickly became one of the top five Twitch streams of all time with more than 435,000 people watching live, not to mention other viewers that watched from other concurrent streams. It was an impromptu stream brought on by the congresswoman's curiosity with the game and her interest in getting the vote out. During the live stream Ocasio-Cortez interacted with viewers and answered questions about mail in voting, voting deadlines, etc. It may be safe to say her efforts were part of a successful strategy. According to The Guardian, youth voter turnout received a 10% surge this year.
Voting analysts at The Guardian suggest President-elect Joe Biden had the support of 61% of people aged 18-29 in this year’s election. His campaign targeted the young adult voters in another popular video game called “Animal Crossing.” In Animal Crossing, Biden created his own virtual “island” where his “avatar” talked in campaign catch phrases such as “no malarkey” and encouraged players to use virtual voting booths.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris created their own island in October in Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing” video game to encourage people to vote.
This year more than any other has had us rely on the digital landscape to not only keep in touch, but to also keep ourselves entertained. With the younger generation spending more time online than any other it has become clear that this is the most useful method to relay key information to this voter base.
Chicago resident Daymon Rivera, 23, an avid gamer, shared his thoughts about AOC’s stream by saying, “I feel that what she did was really good. She knew that she couldn't just rely on old TV media to spread awareness.”
Livestream gaming seems to be a surefire strategy in terms of connecting with those who spend their time online. Chicago resident Michael Torres, 23, said, “More politicians need to understand how to connect with the newer generations and [Ocasio-Cortez] did just that. We watch streams and that’s one thing that newer generations like to do and she figured out that if she goes online and streams and talks about important topics that we should be aware of then she can get her message across. I wish more politicians did that. It really shows that her interests are with the people and not with herself.”.