Many young progressives who were hesitant to support the reelection of President Joe Biden now seem eager to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris — and are starting to rebel against online left-leaning peers who don’t share their views.
In the days since Biden suspended his reelection campaign, progressives seemed to celebrate the news and support Harris, but some left-leaning social media users were quick to criticize. Progressives are willing to vote for a “cop,” and some pro-Palestinian voters argue that Harris’ foreign policy is just as unacceptable as Biden’s.
But soon, many TikToks and X-rated posts slammed the notion that Harris was on par with former President Donald Trump, listing a slew of reasons why they believed a Trump presidency would be even worse for marginalized communities at home and abroad. They also criticized anti-Harris leftists for their seeming inability to come up with better solutions, with many accusing them of performative activism.
Charlie Fury, a 28-year-old musician from New Jersey, said he had worried about how a Trump reelection would affect LGBTQ+ rights. He said he cried tears of relief when Biden, who he considers too moderate for his tastes, announced he was leaving office because, for the first time in a long time, he felt hope that a Democratic candidate could beat Trump.
“Some on the left want a 100% morally pure option, which doesn’t really exist in our current political system. I wish it was, but it’s not,” Fury said, expressing his frustration on TikTok. “And it infuriates me that instead of trying to make whatever change they can with their vote, they just throw up their hands and say they don’t care about the system. That’s an excuse and completely counter to what we on the left should stand for.”
Progressives have previously voiced frustration over a range of concerns, including the president’s support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza, his efforts to combat climate change and his attempt to ban TikTok. They have similarly criticized Harris in the past for her criminal justice policies as California attorney general and, more recently, for appearing to side with Biden’s stance on Israel.
In response to this backlash, a comment made by YouTube political and cultural commentator Contrapoints in a 2021 video essay criticizing the left’s “politics of resentment” has gone viral online: “They don’t want to win, they don’t want power, they just want to ‘criticize’ power endlessly.”
Contrapoints, whose real name is Natalie Winn, told NBC News in an interview that this is a long-running tension among people on the left.
“We’re having the same debate that takes place every four years: Are the Democrats good enough or is it a terrible moral compromise to vote for this candidate who doesn’t meet XYZ progressive morality,” she said.
Wynn said he tends to be more progressive than Democrats but avoids calling himself leftist because of the “net left,” many of whom he said aren’t organizing for concrete change beyond what are “basically what amount to voter suppression campaigns.”
“Anyone who becomes president of the United States is going to have to shed somebody’s blood at some point,” Wynn said, “and I think people feel that if they don’t vote, or if they vote for a candidate they know can’t win, then they don’t have to be held accountable for any of the government’s actions.”
X user @commodifythis is one of several progressives who have criticized Harris’ supporters online. The user, who asked to remain anonymous due to online stalking, described herself as a longtime pro-Palestinian and sparked backlash by posting that she would not support Harris unless she called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The 28-year-old Pennsylvania resident said she doesn’t buy the “lesser of two evils” argument made by Harris supporters.
“Even if those arguments have weight, they’re not compelling to people who are undecided. I think people need reasons to vote other than the other person being bad,” she said. “I think we probably agree on that, but we need some kind of promise from Kamala Harris that we can be confident that her presidency will address everything that was wrong with Donald Trump.”
She said that because of her stance, she faced harsh backlash from other internet users who saw her response as unconvincing and lacking empathy to their concerns.
“If I were in their position, I would probably say, ‘I hope she takes a position that you can vote for, and if not, I hope there’s another position that you can vote for instead,'” she said, “instead of insulting me and saying I’m privileged when you don’t even know me.”
For many online, the new energy around Harris stems from a feeling that she is more appealing to progressives and young people in general, making her seem far more electable than Biden.
Amelia Kimball, a University of Texas at Austin student who describes herself as far-left, said she is critical of Harris but is hopeful about her candidacy. She said she thinks Biden had little chance of beating Trump this time around, especially given his failure in the June debate and the recent assassination attempt that galvanized public support for Trump.
“Kamala Harris, quite simply, is young, dynamic and can answer questions coherently and immediately, which is what will make people more into her,” said Kimball, 21. “Joe Biden has become so incredibly unattractive that I think the bar has really been lowered for what people will be more into.”
Wynn noted that most on the left will never find the “perfect candidate” among the major presidential contenders.
“Unfortunately, the US presidential election is decided primarily by Midwestern swing state voters, not by socialists on Twitter,” she says, “so candidates tend to say things that are not appealing to socialist Twitter.”
