2024 United States Presidential Election

Overview

The 2024 United States Presidential Election refers to the 60th quadrennial presidential election in the United States, occurring on November 5th, 2024. The election will take place between Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, after Joe Biden dropped out of his race for reelection in July 2024. Leading up to the election, particularly in mid-2024 onward, the race between Trump and Harris sparked significant discussion and media coverage online, as well as numerous memes referencing the election itself and the candidates.

Background

Heading into the 2024 election, it was expected that Joe Biden and Donald Trump would face each other in a rematch of the 2020 United States Presidential Election. Donald Trump^[1] did face a primary challenge from a field of contenders that included Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Ultimately, none of the other contenders presented much of a challenge, and Trump won the nomination handily.

For the Democrats, Joe Biden ran virtually unopposed and was the presumptive nominee heading into the summer of 2024.

Developments

2024 CNN Debate

The course of the election dramatically shifted following a debate between Biden and Trump hosted by CNN in June 2024. Heading into the debate, Biden was flagging in the polls and faced questions about his age and cognitive decline going into a second term. The debate performance raised alarm among Democrats and further hurt him in the polls, leading to calls for him to drop out of the race.

Trump Assassination Attempt

The 2024 Donald Trump Rally Shooting or 2024 Donald Trump Assassination Attempt was a shooting that took place on July 13th, 2024 at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally for United States presidential candidate Donald Trump in mid-July 2024. During the incident, a shooter scaled a nearby building and attempted to kill Donald Trump during his speech by firing several shots from an AR-15, with one of the bullets grazing Trump's ear. The shooter, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed one spectator and critically injured two others before being shot dead by the Secret Service.

J.D. Vance

On July 15th, 2024, Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 United States Presidential Election.

Immediately after he was selected, multiple controversies surrounding J.D. Vance circulated on social media and in news media. These include a false claim that Vance admitted to having sex with a couch in Hillbilly Elegy, a rumor that he once looked up a video of a dolphin humping a woman on Twitter, discourse surrounding previous comments in which he criticized women without children as childless cat ladies and his extreme stances on abortion.

As of August 6th, 2024, J.D. Vance has a historically low approval rating^[2] among vice presidential candidates, leading to some speculation that he may be replaced on the ticket before the election.

Biden Drops Out Of The Race

For three weeks after Biden's poor performance at the CNN debate, he faced increased calls from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out of the race. During this time, online attention turned to Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee should Biden drop out.

On July 21st, 2024, Joe Biden announced in a letter posted to Twitter / X that he would not seek reelection. He promised he would address the decision further at a later date (shown below), which he eventually did in a brief, televised address to the nation later that week.

In a second tweet, he endorsed Kamala Harris for President (shown below).

Kamala Harris quickly racked up endorsements from within the party and became the presumptive nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

Tim Walz

On August 6th, 2024, it was announced that Kamala Harris had selected Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz was selected over other rumored candidates Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

Prior to his selection, Walz notably kickstarted a "Republicans Are Weird" messaging tactic that rapidly became populariaed among Democrats by using the line in an appearance on MSNBC (shown below).

Related Memes

Coconut-pilled

Coconut-Pilled, sometimes spelled Coconutpilled or Coconut Pilled, is an internet slang term used primarily by progressives and former Kamala Harris critics who expressed semi-ironic support of the vice president replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president in the 2024 election, and later, for President. The term is inspired by Harris' infamous "Fell out Of a Coconut Tree" quote, signaling that those who are "coconut-pilled" are embracing Harris' bizarre tics and weirdness.

Kamala Is Brat

Kamala Is Brat refers to a series of memes that paint presumptive presidential candidate Kamala Harris as "brat" in the context of Charlie XCX's 2024 album brat and its related memes like "Brat Summer," with the slang term being used in a positive and praising manner. Started by TikTok edits that applied brat aesthetic (such as the album cover's lime-green color) to videos of Harris, the meme received further development after Charlie XCX wrote "kamala IS brat" on social media in late July 2024.

"Republicans Are Weird"

Republicans Are Weird refers to unofficial messaging adopted by the Democratic Party's 2024 Presidential Election campaign that sought to deride Republican policies in general, and J.D. Vance, in particular, as "weird" as opposed to only "scary" or "dangerous."

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz made an appearance on MSNBC where he described key Republican policies, as well as Trump's seeming fixation on Hannibal Lecter in his campaign speeches, as "weird" in July 2024. This sentiment about Trump was also echoed in a press release from Kamala Harris's presidential campaign that described Donald Trump as "old and weird."

Search Interest

External References