The NPR Politics Podcast - Harris "Loves" Gen Z, Campaigns For Their Vote

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Polls have shown that younger voters are not that enthusiastic about reelecting President Biden. But his campaign is hopeful that Vice President Kamala Harris can motivate them by focusing on gun control and other issues they care about.This episode: White House correspondents Asma Khalid & Deepa Shivaram, voting reporter Elena Moore, and congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh.Our producers are Casey Morell & Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Erica Morrison. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, my name is Lisa Clem in East Lansing, Michigan. I'm currently at my job at WKAR, where I hold a position as a student reporter. WKAR is an NPR affiliate. This podcast was recorded at 12.12 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, January 19th of 2024. Things may have changed by the time you hear it. Okay, here's the show. Aw, we love a student reporter. Yay, student reporting. East Lansing is where my mom first moved when she came to the U.S. too.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House. I'm Deepa Shivaram. I also cover the White House. And I'm Elena Moore. I cover the election. And since it is Friday, we've got our weekly roundup for you all. And we're going to begin today's show with Kamala Harris's role in the 2024 campaign. Vice President Harris is actively trying to court two specific key groups in the Democratic base, people of color and young voters. And she's focused a lot of her attention recently on gun control. It's one of the major topics in her portfolio. She spoke to a group of mayors this week. And I know, Deepa, you were covering that, reporting on that. What was the vice

president's message? Yeah, the vice president is covering a lot of ground here because one thing that we have to keep in mind is that most shootings, most events where gun violence is involved in this country are not mass shootings. Like we see that on the news, but gun violence permeates so much of society. Gun violence by suicide and gun violence that is just interpersonal, guns that are just kept in the home where they're, you know, not properly handled. Like there's so many instances where guns are just so prevalent that lead to so much violence. One thing she was really emphasizing in her travels this past week

and when she was speaking to the mayor's conference, like you mentioned, was that this is an issue that impacts people all over the country. Gun violence is the number one killer of children in the United States. One in five people in this country have a family member who was killed by a gun. And so when you think about how much this impacts, yes, young people, yes, definitely people of color, but really everyone in every state, that fires people up. And it particularly fires up younger voters. And she went on this college tour at the end of last year, right? I do remember that. Yeah. And she met her office as she, you know, kind of interacted with more than 15,000 young people all over the country. And this was the kind of tour where,

like, there wasn't really an agenda. Like, they were really covering a lot of ground. They just wanted to listen to these students, hear what they have to say. They were Q&As, right? A lot of them? It was Q&As. Yeah, exactly. Kind of like a town hall sort of a thing.

And gun violence came up in every single one of those events without it being prompted. So this is clearly something that young people are experiencing and thinking about. And one thing she really emphasized at that mayor's event yesterday was this is a lived experience and it goes beyond just the event of violence. You know, this is trauma that they are living with for a long time and then thinking about as they go and vote. I also think that the issue of gun violence specifically is so tied to Generation Z. So many of the people who are part of this generation came of age in a time where there are just a ton of mass shootings. And I think about in 2018 with the shooting in Parkland, Florida, and this entire group of young people kind of became activists in a movement

for additional gun violence prevention. So this is like historically a generation that has a clear link to this issue specifically. Yeah. And that activism turns into votes. I mean, I think that there's a number of data points and studies that also show that like if you are a person who really cares about gun violence prevention, really is impacted by this topic, you're more likely to cast a ballot. And that's something that the VP is really trying to hone in on. That's interesting. And it is one of those issues to me that seems like there's even such a distinct difference between where older millennials are and where Gen Z are. For sure. Because I grew up in an era where we had tornado drills, fire drills. I did not ever have school shooting drills. And you talk to anybody who's just a few years younger than me, and it seems like suddenly they were happening routinely.

Yeah. So I want to ask you also about the way in which the vice president contextualizes this issue, because Deepa, you hear President Biden talk a lot on the campaign trail about democracy and freedom. These are kind of his two tent poles, I will say, of the reelection bid. And when I've heard the vice president speak, it does seem like she is trying to frame sometimes gun violence, abortion rights, other issues as under this umbrella of freedom. I'm curious if you've heard that as well and why they seem to be doing that. Yeah. You know, it's so funny that you mentioned that because I remember basically a year ago,

it was the 50th anniversary almost of the Roe decision. And Kamala Harris traveled to Florida in Ron DeSantis' backyard. She was in the state capitol, did an event with Planned Parenthood, did an event with other abortion rights groups, and kind of was drumming up support on this issue, bringing these advocacy groups together, bringing people together in Florida. And she really started emphasizing that word freedom at that event a year ago. So this is something that goes, that language goes back for a while here. I think it's so interesting because they do frame so many issues in this election.

You're totally right. As an issue of personal rights, civil rights, freedom. John De La Volpe is a pollster with Harvard. He's previously worked with the Biden campaign. And he studies a lot of trends among how young people feel about politics and elections. It's really about wrapping everything together in terms of a set of values. And that's what young people vote. They're values-based voters, not transactional voters. And the other reason why I think that that freedom language is so interesting is because

it's often something you hear Republicans talking about. Republicans are often talking about how Democrats want to take, you know, your freedom away, like your freedom is on the line. And for someone like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden even to take that and flip it on its head and say, well, no, actually, like if you are looking at some of these issues, like you are losing freedoms here, especially when it comes to something like reproductive rights. And then, you know, with guns, they frame it as an issue of freedom to be free from violence. That is that is kind of part of the strategy there, too. And what Della Volpe is saying about young people valuing issues over party is something that we've seen in the past few major

elections where young people have turned out in pretty historically high numbers. I mean, even looking back at the 2022 midterms, there's data from Tufts University that shows young voters were most likely to say that President Biden wasn't really a factor in their vote. And what was a factor was abortion rights or other top issues like Deepa's bringing up. And I think that like that shift from we are here and passionate about these issues because either we've lived through an experience or it's just something that's in the news and we can't look away. That's what people are voting for. They're not voting for Biden or Harris, for that matter. I mean, I understand how that factors into people's thinking in a midterm election cycle when Biden's name is not technically at the top of the ticket. But I do have questions.

You know, we've seen polls, Alina, that show young voters are not necessarily excited about Biden's reelection bid. Do they feel differently about Vice President Harris? So I've been kind of obsessed with this data from the Harvard Youth Poll, which is a poll that comes out twice a year and focuses on young voters or young Americans between the ages of 18 and 29. And as I've said before, you know, this age group isn't a monolith. So on some of these questions, I was kind of digging into the details and noticing what issues are different and how people feel differently depending on race. White young voters have a lower approval rating of Harris. They also have a lower approval rating of Biden compared to black voters.

Black voters, it's more 50-50 on Harris, 49 percent approved, 46 percent disapproved. So there's potentially a little bit more leeway there. And of course, black voters and brown voters, the same poll found that they actually are less enthusiastic about voting this year, which could be a big warning sign for Democrats if they don't kind of capitalize on that. But in general, across races, this generation is just showing less enthusiasm to come out for Democrats right now. It's interesting to hear you describe the crosstabs and show where people of color are, because I was out with the vice president last summer when she

was talking at a bunch of, you know, conventions and conferences specifically geared towards black and brown voters. And she was quite well received in certain crowds, especially when she would bring up this issue of capping the cost of insulin for people who are on Medicare. But, you know, one huge issue we have not talked about thus far in today's show is the conflict in the Middle East and how Israel and Gaza and the violence there is factoring into how people, specifically voters of color, are viewing the Democratic ticket. Yeah. And I mean, in the same Harvard survey, like young people, again, that same age group, 18 to 29, have really low levels of trust in Biden in handling the situation in Gaza, the war between Israel and Hamas. I mean, just 25 percent say they trust him.

And it's actually Trump has slightly higher overall trust among this group. At least in this survey, there are low levels of trust across the board, across different races. So, I mean, this has been something that I think has kind of shocked a lot of people over the last few months of just seeing the levels of anger that young people have expressed towards the administration. I was out pretty shortly after October 7th, and I was at a demonstration in D.C., and I spoke to people who identify as left-leaning and progressive, and they are just hurt and angry. And that's not something that necessarily changes, especially for a generation that is so issue-driven and

sees a candidate for what they stand for rather than the party they're under. It's also important to keep in mind that consistency that they're looking for sometimes. Like when we talk about what John De La Volpe said about being values-based, it's not necessarily values-based issue by issue separately. I was talking to a voter yesterday. He's 29. He said he's voting for Biden, but he's been a little Trump-curious in the past was his way of describing it. And he really does care about gun violence prevention. He's a gun owner himself, but he was kind of saying, I think it's a little fake, honestly, for Kamala Harris or Joe Biden to be talking about, you know, how people deserve to be safe from gun violence in this country and free from violence in this country.

And then to look at what's going on in Gaza, he's kind of wondering like, well, why wouldn't that message apply there too? Della Volpe also told me, you know, part of this for someone like Harris who is trying to connect with young voters is really telling these young people, like, I hear you, I see you. Like, I am listening to what your concerns are

and I'm listening to what you're saying. They can't necessarily act in a way that young people are going to approve of across the board. But showing up and showing that she is listening to their concerns is something that, you know, they really kind of need to do more of going ahead in the next 10 months. All right. Let's take a quick break. Alina, we're going to let you go for now, but you're coming back for Can't Let It Go. So do not go too far away. Sounds great. When we get back, we'll talk about what Congress did and did not accomplish this week. And we're back. Thanks for staying with us. We are joined now by Deirdre

Walsh, who covers Congress for NPR. Deirdre, it's great to have you with us. Hey, guys. So, Deirdre, there has been one major item on Congress's agenda, I would say, since it has returned from vacation season, and that is to fund the government to avoid a partial shutdown. Congress did indeed manage to do that, but it's yet again another short-term funding bill. So explain to us what goes on now. Well, Congress did what Congress tends to do. They kicked the can down the road again. They were facing a deadline at midnight tonight for a partial government shutdown, and they managed to pass yet another stopgap funding bill. This one funds some federal agencies through March 1st and the rest of the

federal government through March 8th. This doesn't change the fact that they still need to negotiate the dozen annual spending bills that fund federal agencies through the rest of the fiscal year, which is through the end of September. They still have a lot of big issues to work out on those bills. There's a bunch of conservatives in the House who were very unhappy that the Speaker didn't push for additional spending cuts. The same problems remain in a divided Congress, and we'll see what they can do when these next duo of deadlines come up in March. Deidre, I understand what you're saying about, you know, some members of Congress on the Republican side wanting Speaker Johnson to have and push for additional spending cuts. But are there specific big issues around some of the spending bills that are holding them up? I mean, what is

the major tension point? I think the major tension point for hardline conservatives in the House remains the border. A lot of them were demanding that if the Biden administration didn't shut down the border, they should shut down the government. And so having a big policy fight on a really thorny policy issue on the deadline around funding the government and threatening a shutdown hasn't worked before. It didn't work for them this time. The speaker ended up passing the bill with, you know, a lot of Democratic support, which puts him in the same position that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was in. He relied on Democrats to avoid a shutdown. Week to week, the current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is dealing with the same problem that the former Speaker was dealing with.

Deepa, this week, President Biden met at the White House with congressional leaders to discuss more funding for Ukraine. Deepa, what did the White House say about how this meeting went? No, they were pretty like silent after the meeting. And I will say that that is not super unexpected. Like they usually try to kind of leave the meeting in the meeting, if that makes sense. One thing that we heard a lot from the White House press secretary, from John Kirby, who's the spokesperson for the National Security Council, is that conversations around this supplemental request are still ongoing. They were kind of saying like, yes, we wanted to bring people together in the room. We wanted to meet face to face. We thought that would be the most efficient way to do this.

But this is a conversation that's still ongoing. They really were emphasizing that like the coming together aspect of this was very important for them. But in terms of results and what happens next, that was not really outlined by the White House, at least after this meeting ended. I will say it is still pretty new in the relationship that, you know, Joe Biden has with the Speaker of the House. That's still something that they are forging. And those two don't entirely speak that often. That is still a new relationship. So to have these congressional leaders come to the White House, not a small thing, but of course, like this is a big ask that the White House is asking on all of this Ukraine funding that is deeply unpopular among Republicans like we know. So there's still definitely a long road ahead for this.

You know, one of the things that's been striking to me about this entire debate is that the White House has been warning the public, warning lawmakers for a number of months now that they were going to run out of money for Ukraine, that they would not have the ability to send additional weapons. And, you know, the White House has been asked publicly, like, what is your message? How is your message any different to lawmakers? And it doesn't sound like they have a fundamentally different message, at least publicly, than what they had a month ago. And that message does not seem to be working with some Republican House members. Right. And the fact that now that more money for Ukraine and for Israel is tied to a potential deal addressing policy at the southwest border really threatens that nothing will get done at all on this issue and that there may not be any more money for

Ukraine approved by Congress because it's attached to such a complicated policy issue. There is this Senate bipartisan group that is negotiating a deal that could roll out policies. They could be on the verge of announcing a deal as early as next week. This is the border deal that the Senate's been working on. Right. And they are talking about potentially reinstating some policies that were in effect under former President Trump on asylum rules, about who is allowed to enter the United States at the southwest border. They're also talking potentially about changing the Biden administration's parole authority, allowing some people who enter the U.S. to remain as their cases are being

decided. There's a split in the Republican Party about whether or not to take a bipartisan border deal. A lot of Senate Republicans say we're in divided government. This issue is not good for President Biden. His approval ratings on this issue are very low. So we should take something now, put some new rules in effect, and then beef them up if a Republican president is elected in 2024. A lot of hardline Republicans in the House dismiss that argument altogether. They don't think that the Biden administration will enforce any new laws. They don't trust them. They think they're not enforcing the laws at all. But one House Republican I talked to last night was really pushing to take something now. It's Patrick McHenry from North Carolina. We have bipartisan support. Big city

mayors are talking about the same thing that Texas conservatives are talking about. Take the moment, man. Take the policy win. Bank it and go back for more. That is always the goal. president about this deal. And a lot of former President Trump's allies in the House, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, are telling him they don't want the deal. They're telling Mike Johnson, do not take the deal. If you pass this, and it includes money for Ukraine, we're talking about ousting you. The other challenge for any border deal in both chambers of Congress is a lot of stiff resistance from progressive Democrats. There are a lot of members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Progressive Caucus who warned that if President Biden reinstates policies that were in place under former President Trump,

he will lose his base in the next election, that the problem at the border could get worse, and that border activists who helped elect him and were part of the coalition in 2020 will essentially stay on the couch and not be around to vote in 2024, because they're very concerned about some of these policies that could come into play in a bipartisan deal. All right. Thank you so much, Deirdre, for sharing your reporting. We're going to let you go. Thanks, guys. Stay with us because we'll be back in a moment for Can't Let It Go.

And we're back. And it's time now for Can't Let It Go. That's the part of the show where we talk about the things from the week we just cannot stop thinking about, politics or otherwise. And Deepa, why don't you kick it off? My Can't Let It Go is not a thing, but a person. And it's Iowa Debrie, who is the actress from The Bear. She won an award at the Emmys. She won an award at the Golden Globes. I love her role in The Bear. It's a fantastic show, full of heart. I think she's an amazing actress and I love her comedy. But the thing that I really can't stop thinking about is how in her speech at the Golden Globes, she thanked her family. She thanked

all these people that she works with. There's so many people who I probably forgot to thank. Oh my God. All of my agents and managers assistants to the people who answer my emails. Y'all are real ones. Thank you for answering my crazy, crazy emails. I love that she took a beat and thanked the people who are often unseen and unheard and do a lot of thankless work. So that was really cool of her. And just like an addendum to all of that, if you have not seen her movie. I have not actually seen The Bear. I'm behind. I've read so much about it and heard so seen her movie. I have not actually seen The Bear. I'm behind.

I've read so much about it and heard so much about it. And I need a new TV show. Oh, my gosh. So I feel like this is really a message for me that I clearly need to choose this as my next show. It's a sign. If you were looking for a sign, it is so, so good. A lot of emotional rollercoaster, but, like, in a very good way. And then once you watch The Bear slash before, like, really do it in whatever order you want to.

She has a movie that came out called Bottoms. Oh my gosh, yes. It is easily the funniest movie I have seen in such a long time. Absolutely howling at this movie. There's a very iconic monologue where Iowa Debrie like had improvised the whole thing and it is easily the best part of the movie. I could probably recite it by heart, but I don't want to spoil it for you guys. Anyway, all of that to say, she is the thing I can't let go of. I am rooting for her. I'm such a big fan of her. And yeah, that was like a really happy part of my week. Those are the kind of speeches that totally make me go back on my statement. I make every award show where I'm like, I don't like award shows. And then I see, I see, you know, I watch somebody give a speech like that. And I'm like, I love award shows. She's so real and funny and just like me. She's a cool girl. She's a cool girl. All right. So Alina, what about you? What can you not let go of?

Well, I'm so happy to be back in Can't Let It Go so that I can talk more about dogs. Because I love dogs so much. And this week I read an incredible piece of journalism in the magazine Wired by Matt Reynolds. Got to give them credit because this story just had twists and turns. Here's the headline for you. Was Bobby the world's oldest dog or a fraud? I heard about this. Bobby was this dog. He has since passed away. But he was a dog who lived in Portugal and was 31 years old. He was born, I think, in 1992. He's not even Gen Z. Like he's a millennial dog. He's older than me. He's older than me too.

Then it kind of came out that like there were some confusion if like there were accurate records about Bobby. And this reporter, like I just want to read this one paragraph. They go through basically they end every paragraph being like, so it seems like I have to check with this expert. And then the next paragraph is like I checked with the expert. And then it's like and then I reached out to this agency. And then I did this. And at one point they go, so this is where we're at. The government authority in Portugal that was supposed to have verified Bobby's age has no data about the dog's birthday. Guinness World Records is staying tight-lipped until its investigation is complete. Dog aging experts aren't totally convinced that we have enough evidence to verify Bobby's age.

And then they go into saying how they talked to some people who were like, maybe it's all a ruse for the pet food industry because Bobby ate human food. And so people might not want that coming out. Like, don't feed your dogs pet food. Anyway, really good article. But it also just made me think, like— Did it come to a conclusion? No, they don't know.

No answer. No answer. TBD, time will tell. But a part of me is like, I really want Bobby to be 31. And I want this to be it was a happy story. And like many happy stories. There's a fact check that. Yeah, yeah, always fact check. Wow. Shout out to that journalist. I know dogged reporting. Oh. I love a good pun. Asma, what can't you let go of? So I'm sure you all have heard, because I feel like we have similar-ish movie interests sometimes, that there's a Mean Girls.

Oh, yes. I feel like you all must have known about this. So did you see the original? Yes. Okay, yes. It was like a highlight of my life, what, two decades ago. It came out in the early 2000s. Two decades ago. So anyhow, if y'all have not seen the original Mean Girls, I'm not going to give a whole recap here.

Just suffice to say, you should totally see it. And yeah, there's a reboot out. But what I cannot let go of, and Deepa, I feel like you'd appreciate this, is that the Ditz is now brown. Oh, true, dude. She's Indian. And I find that this is very step forward for Indian representation, South Asian, Desi representation. We're allowed to be dumb, too.

We, too, can be dumb. Okay, we can say this. But seriously, because in the original Mean Girls, the one South Asian character is like the math genius. Do you remember him? Yes. And that was like a big, not a lot of brown people out in the popular movies at that point. So like he was kind of iconic and he was the nerd. You're right.

Yeah. And now it's like the classic ditz. Do you remember Karen, the blonde, who's like always spacey about everything? She's the character who is now South Asian, now Desi in the new one. And I was like, wow, step up. I mean, I really do think like people always talk about representation and, you know, I'm kind of of two minds about how valuable it is or sometimes how overstated it is also. But to me, like what's really interesting is I do think when you've got you know so much emphasis on Asians always being this model minority when she can be a mean girl

too I was like wow just diversity anything I love that I do love that and I totally agree share that same sentiment though I will say spoiler so the actress apparently in real life goes to Columbia so Oh, yeah. Just saying. She seems like amazing. Her Instagram is so cool. She's not total dits apparently in real life. That's really funny.

I'm seeing it on Sunday, so can report back. Yes, please let us know. All right, well, that is a wrap for today's show. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House. I'm Deepa Shibaram. I also cover the White House. And I'm Elena Moore.

I cover the election. And thank you all, as always, for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.