After the Kansas City Chiefs won the Feb. 12 Super Bowl game, Instagram users scrolled through images of victory and defeat to find President Joe Biden’s post of himself with red lasers beaming from his eyes. The post with the caption, “just like we drew it up, @Chiefs” garnered over 74,000 comments expressing shock and humor at the absurdity of the image.
The meme, a reference to the right-wing persona “Dark Brandon,” has been co-opted by Biden’s campaign in his merchandise and public appearances. The campaign’s embrace of the meme is an attempt to shift public perception of Biden towards one that’s more appealing to younger, digitally-native voters. The meme also appeared to be a reaction to conspiracy theories that the White House rigged the Super Bowl in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs to encourage Taylor Swift to endorse President Biden’s reelection.
However, many New School students perceived the meme as a mockery of their greater concerns about Biden as a democratic candidate. For Sydney Levy, a fashion design major at Parsons School of Design, the meme read as a poor joke in light of many of the current failures within Biden’s campaign.
“I think that post was an attempt from the White House to appeal to young voters in a comedic way…but in reality, it is a joke. President Biden fails to realize how much Gen Z cares about real things,” said Levy.
Max Mckenna, a Culture and Media major at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts echoed a similar sentiment about the meme. “It’s a complete falling apart at any attempt of connecting with younger people, and I found it extremely off-putting,” he said.
A Harvard national poll from this fall indicates that Biden’s approval rating is only 35% among voters between 18-29. It also concluded that young Americans appear less likely to turn out to the polls than they did for the 2020 presidential election.
At the root of frustration with Biden’s candidacy and the meme are issues such as the United States providing economic and military funding to Israel, a lack of cohesive action on climate change, and a failure to cancel all student loan debt.
Biden’s age was also a concern. At age 81, Biden is the oldest president to have been in the White House. The prospect of another four years with him accelerates fears that key policy decisions Gen Z is advocating for may not be delivered on.
“I think that Biden is too old to make legitimate decisions for this country, especially as Gen Z becomes a large voting population. I think that he means well as an old man but not as a politician,” said Levy.
Stella Santos, a Journalism and Design major at Lang, shared the same sentiment. “Policy obviously overrules his age. But I do think age is something I consider,” she said.
Among those interviewed, Joe Biden’s Dark Brandon post appeared to be more of a sinister commentary on American politics than a lighthearted Super Bowl joke. Excitement to vote for Biden among TNS students felt rooted in other desires, namely to keep Trump out of office.
“I feel inspired to vote for a multitude of reasons, more for the fact to not have Trump as president,” said Sofia Gonzales, a psychology major at Lang.
“I think the only reason Gen Z would vote for Biden in this election is to not vote for Trump.” echoed Levy.
Looking forward to the 2024 presidential election, it appears President Biden will have to do more than embrace meme culture to appeal to younger voters, especially those at TNS.