According to the 2024 Presidential election poll from “270 To Win,” both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are neck-in-neck, with Harris leading at 48% approval and Trump behind at 46%. However, their campaign strategies are vastly different.

After President Biden stepped down as the Democratic presidential nominee on July 21, Kamala Harris’s campaign raised 81 million dollars in the first 24 hours of her launch, according to the Kamala HQ Instagram. Riding on her youth and record as a prosecutor, her campaign is heavily targeted at newcomer Gen-Z voters. Through social media accounts, Kamala HQ has and continues to post a lot of content following current TikTok trends.

Her popularity with youth on social media started when an old clip of Harris resurfaced.

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree,” she said in the clip. The saying quickly became a viral meme across social media platforms, with some edits surfacing including to Charli XCX’s song “360.” Even now, Kamala HQ’s bio on several social media platforms is, “Providing context,” referring to the clip. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and came before you,” she said, at the end of it.

When Harris’s decision to run was first announced on July 21, the Kamala HQ TikTok account made a post using a green background and Arial font based on Charli XCX’s recent album “BRAT.” It gained popularity when, in the post, they shared hit star Charli XCX’s tweet, “kamala IS brat.”

With the help of social media, Kamala’s team takes advantage of this spotlight and tries its best to follow current media trends while Donald Trump has a different approach.

On July 13 of this year, Donald Trump survived a failed assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania ahead of the national republican convention in Milwaukee. The bullet grazed his ear, but it did not stop Trump from continuing to hold speeches and rallies. A photo of Trump’s security escorting him away from his podium with blood trickling down his face and his fist raised took the media by storm. The historic photo is one of Trump’s most popular to date. Then, only two days after the photo was taken he made his first public appearance at the Republican National Convention with a bandage over his right ear, once again, pumping his fist into the air. Following the appearance, Trump’s supporters wore bandages on their ears in support.

Regardless of political preference, many thought his assassination attempt might earn him enough notoriety to win him the election.

“I don’t think I’m the only one who, after the attempted assassination on Trump thought, ‘Oh yeah, he just won the election,’” said Carson Brunn, senior and president of the Bridge USA Point Park Chapter

Although, Brunn thinks that Trump wasted the lead he had and Harris took advantage of that.

Assistant Professor of political science Dora Ion, said that each candidate’s approach in the tight race is a reflection of polarization between the two parties.

“[This] happens when very large segments of the electorate hold opposed views on political issues,” Ion said. “It is also the result of a fierce and very adversarial competition for undecided voters.”

With their approaches, Ion said that both candidates have strikingly different personalities and political platforms.

“The tight race demonstrates that both candidates are capable of mobilizing the electorate effectively,” she said.

While both candidates may have different approaches in their race to presidency, their separate and effective utilization of the media at this point in the race, makes it anyone’s game.