Barron Trump has played a key role in getting his father to ‘break the internet’ as he tries to reach Gen Z voters.
The youngest son of the former president has not appeared regularly by his father’s side at his rallies across the country, but has played a behind-the-scenes role in getting former President Donald Trump to appear on podcasts favored by Gen Z and millennial men, ABC News reports.
The 18-year-old first suggested his father appear on YouTuber and wrestler Logan Paul‘s podcast, Impaulsive, and sure enough the podcast was the first one Trump appeared on back in June, an insider with the campaign told the outlet.
Trump, 78, has since gone on to appear on a number of other podcasts, and even sat down with popular podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday.
His efforts have seemed to pay off, with each podcast that Trump has appeared on garnering millions of views – not counting clips from the podcasts being viewed on social media.
Barron Trump has played an important role in helping his father reach Gen Z voters
Barron has suggested Trump appear on podcasts that Gen Z and millennial men listen to
‘Barron has been very involved in recommending a number of the podcasts that we should do,’ Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller told the Politico Playbook Deep Dive podcast on Friday.
‘I got to tell you, hats off to the young man. Every single recommendation he’s had has turned out to be absolute ratings gold that’s broke the Internet.’
Miller went on to speak about the importance of appearing on such podcasts, saying: ‘When you look at the impact of podcasts or YouTube shows – non-traditional media – part of the thing is you’re meeting voters where they’re at.’
Trump has most recently sat-down with businessman Patrick Bet-David for the PBD podcast in an appearance that garnered 2.8 million views as of Friday.
His October 9 appearance on comedian Andrew Schulz’s Fragrant podcast also received 6.2 million views, and Trump’s first podcast appearance with Paul garnered 6.68 million views.
But Trump’s most successful appearance thus far was on This Past Weekend with Theo Von on August 20 – which was viewed at least 14 million times.
The former president began that podcast by saying Barron had told him about the Louisiana-born comedian, saying: ‘Dad, he’s big. He’s a big one.’
Trump’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience is also expected to garner millions of views, as Rogan’s podcast is the most-listened-to podcast on Spotify with 14.5 million followers.
Trump’s appeared on This Past Weekend with Theo Von on August 20, in a video that has been viewed at least 14 million times
Trump boasts about his son Barron on Theo Von’s podcast
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has previously told the New York Post the campaign is focusing on getting media coverage through social media engagement and clip sharing.
‘President Trump is very likeable and everything he does is a viral moment, whether he’s just simply walking into a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta and meeting with the young workers or flipping burgers at an Iowa football game tailgate,’ she said in April.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’ efforts to appeal to young voters on podcasts has thus far not been as successful.
She recorded an interview with The Shade Room on October 14, which had just over 144,000 views as of Friday.
An eight-minute clip of here appearance on the hit Call Her Daddy podcast, which was released on October 6, had 675,000 views.
Trump is now leading in the polls, with a Wall Street Journal survey released Thursday shows him with a three-point edge nationally over the vice president.
It has Trump 47 percent and Harris at 45 percent among registered voters. That’s a reversal of the polling by the Wall Street Journal in August.
A CNBC All-America Economic Survey also showed Trump leading 48 percent to Harris’ 46 percent, and in the seven battleground states likely to decide the presidential election, the poll shows Trump taking a lead 48 percent to Harris’ 47 percent.
The poll showed that economic issues remain the biggest concern for voters, and when it comes to prioritizing inflation, the economy and the needs of the middle class, Trump has a strong advantage.
It also found that 42 percent of voters said they would be better off financially if Trump wins compared to just 24 percent who said the same if Harris wins. Another 29 percent said their financial situation will not change no matter who wins the White House.
The Franklin and Marshall College poll in Pennsylvania also shows Trump ahead of Harris by 50 percent to 49 percent among likely voters, but among all registered voters, the vice president still has an edge 48 percent to 44 percent.
It shows that Trump has a six point lead when it comes to handling of the economy and the military. But Harris has an advantage when it comes to understanding the concerns of ordinary Americans and is considered more trustworthy.
