Why TikTok is telling the real story of Americas female voters in 2024

It’s being called the “boys vs.girls election.” This year’s presidential matchup between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is one that commentators say is falling along gender lines, with “crypto bros” against “cat ladies,” and Barstool nation taking on “brats.” Indeed, polling supports this narrative.

A recent Suffolk University/USA Today poll is just one of many showing that women favor Democrats — in this case by a vast 21-point spread.But these numbers don’t tell the whole story.

While traditional polling offers a broad snapshot, platforms like TikTok reveal more nuanced shifts in attitudes among female voters.Social science indicates that news cycles are often downstream of social media.

For better or worse, platforms like X surface stories before mainstream journalists.TikTok, which has a predominantly female user base, is no exception.

While it may not be the most reliable source for breaking news, TikTok offers insights into the views of female voters that polling might miss.And those insights don’t always align with the stereotype that TikTok leans progressive.Take Kylie Pitts, a 21-year-old TikToker in Mississippi.

She has over a million followers, who watch the blond beauty, clad in oversized t-shirts, complete mundane tasks — making iced coffee, grocery shopping at Walmart and caring for her toddler and fashionably blue-collar husband.These videos, showcasing her sunny coquette aesthetic, consistently rack up hundreds of thousands of views.But Pitts is also a Trump supporter.

On April 29, she did a “package unboxing,” unveiling 13 Trump-themed tops she had ordered from different boutiques.In subsequent June videos, she reassured her followers, even if “we have different opinions, we can still be besties.

It’s crazy to think otherwise.” Her message of viewpoint diversity doesn’t appear to be hurting her popularity.On March 16, Pitts had 105,000 followers.

By October, after sharing Trump content, that number ha...