Election rewind: Looking back at June and July on the campaign trail

As we await the news of who Kamala Harris will choose to join her on the Democrats’ ticket for president, let’s take a look back at the whirlwind of political activity that’s happened in the last two months to see how audiences have engaged with this content on news sites and social media.

[Editor’s Note: Head to Election Headquarters for new data on Kamala Harris’ VP pick, Tim Walz.]

June 27 – The First Presidential Debate

Following the first US presidential debate, many media publishers and Americans questioned Biden’s ability to win the race. According to data from Tubular Labs, the discussion generated 250 million YouTube views in the 3 weeks following the event, and viewership peaked on July 9th after Biden’s NATO address.

While Trump and Biden still dominated readers’ attention in the hours after the debate, the number of articles about alternative candidates like Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saw an increase that began after 4am EST on June 28. Average engagement with these articles also jumped from about 25 seconds to more than 60 seconds the day after the debate. 

Over on Youtube, views on Trump-related videos increased by 160% the week of the debate while Biden views surged by 186% as audiences sought to make sense of the state of the race post-debate. 

July 13 – The Assassination Attempt

The day before the attempted assassination on Donald Trump, pageviews about the former president were around 40 million and had 1 million engaged hours. The day after the shooting, pageviews soared by 5X to 220 million, while engaged time grew by 3X.

That being said, Harris still has some ground to make up with regards to on-site engagement. Since Biden’s announcement, the current president is still averaging 802,863 engaged hours per day, while former President Trump is averaging 717,676 hours, and Harris is averaging 641,333.

Another place Harris will look to close the gap is on social media. As her campaign has leaned into memes, celebrities, and jokes online, engagement has particularly surged on TikTok. According to Tubular Labs data, her 27 million engagements in the last week total more than the rest of the year combined.

What’s next

With under 100 days until the election, there are sure to be more surprises along with the known milestones such as Ms. Harris’ impending choice of running mate. As we wait for the next breaking news event from the campaign trail, catch up on all of our previous election research at our Election Headquarters.