If a politician lip-syncs into the void and no one watches… did they even campaign? TikTok is where young voters are engaging, and campaigns need to adapt.
Welcome to the 2025 federal election, where TikTok isn’t just a place for dances and day-in-the-life videos – it’s where the next generation of voters are consuming their news, forming opinions, and, in some cases, deciding who gets their vote.
This year, Millennials and Gen Z will officially outnumber Boomers and Gen X in the electorate. That demographic shift is huge. And where are they spending their time? TikTok.
Over 9.7 million Australian adults are on the platform, spending an average of 42 hours a month scrolling, watching, commenting, and yes, engaging with politics. The question isn’t should politicians be there. It’s how should they show up.
From Parliament House to the ‘For You’ Page
We’re already seeing politicians on TikTok.
Anthony Albanese is doing a decent job balancing polished policy and trend participation, with the prevailing commentary skewing toward scepticism. Peter Dutton’s team is showing up too, though the content on his page doesn’t feel like it really “gets” the platform.
On the party pages, we’re seeing big swings between standard political ads and trend-following nonsense. The Greens are leading the pack with a strategy that feels native: educational, lightly playful, and very fluent in platform language.
And while I would be the first to admit that I haven’t read every single comment on their pages (I do have a life), the type of comments I saw was telling. Some of the videos with the highest reach and engagement rates were riddled with satire.
But here’s the catch: engagement doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting their vote.
TikTok ≠ TV
Too many political comms teams still treat TikTok like a vertical TVC slot. Crop the ad. Add captions. Post. Repeat.
The problem? TikTok doesn’t care about polish. It rewards relevance, speed, and authenticity which are three things politicians historically struggle with. Add to that the fact that most people spend just a couple of seconds on each video, and it becomes clear: you have to grab attention and mean something.
A perfectly framed policy speech won’t cut through. Neither will a politician awkwardly lip-syncing to a trending sound. Voters — especially younger ones — can smell the pandering from a mile away. And while they might cringe-watch, they won’t necessarily convert that engagement into a vote.
Cringe Is Not a Strategy
There’s a myth that going viral equals changing minds. It doesn’t. Engagement is easy to fake; trust isn’t.
The danger with turning politics into content is that it can easily become performative. And performative politics leads to shallow campaigns, not real conversations. We risk rewarding those who play the part, rather than those who stand for something.
In the U.S., we saw this with the “brat-ification” of Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Trump — banned from most platforms — managed to keep a hold on his base through other means entirely. Australia has compulsory voting, which removes one big hurdle, but the real challenge is still emotional: making people care.
So, What Do Young Voters Care About?
If you’re a political strategist thinking TikTok success comes from vibes, think again.
Young voters are clear about what matters to them:
🌏 Climate
🏡 Housing
🎓 Education
🧠 Mental health
💸 Cost of living
They don’t just want entertainment. They want policies that speak to their reality. And while the delivery matters — it has to match the medium — the content of the content matters more.
That means no more trend-chasing. No more fake relatability. Just actual solutions, communicated in a way that feels human.
Everything Is Content But Not Everyone Should Be a Content Creator
Since the printing press, media has shaped how politics is delivered. TikTok is just the next evolution. But being good at TikTok shouldn’t be the bar for public leadership.
Our politicians shouldn’t be chasing likes, they should be chasing outcomes. If you want to earn a vote, don’t show me how cool you are. Show me what you’re going to do.
Will TikTok Decide the Election?
Not on its own.
But ignoring it? That’s like pretending radio didn’t matter in the ‘60s or thinking Facebook was a phase in 2013. TikTok is where culture lives right now. And culture shapes conversations, shapes sentiment, and yes — shapes decisions.
So, let’s not overhype it. But let’s not underestimate it either. Because in the end, it’s not about whether a candidate can trend. It’s whether they can lead.
