If Netflix is looking for a new TV series, this US election contest would make a compelling storyline.
The news cycle has spun into a maddening frenzy most days.
The stories are at times incomprehensible.
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And then there’s the characters.
This season, Donald Trump is selling himself as a Republican hero, describing himself as the GOAT (greatest of all time), destined to regain the presidency and save America from itself.
Kamala Harris — Trump’s antithesis.
There have been attempts on Donald Trump’s life. Not once, but twice.
Harris dominated Trump in the presidential debate.
Trump accused Haitian immigrants of stealing and eating family pets, prompting bomb threats that sent schools in Springfield, Ohio into lockdown.
And then there’s Oprah.
Harris has employed TV royalty to help sell her Democratic campaign.
These are the moments that both Democrats and Republicans hope will help change the course of the election contest in their favour.
But the voters that both candidates need to capture are not engaging with the news cycle in the way they want them to.
Research shows the average American engages in politics for just four minutes a week.
The undecided voters both candidates need to capture have a low tolerance for political debate and aren’t interested in the ins and outs of political discourse.
In short, they don’t care, and they’re too busy to spend time trying to.
These people are low-engagement voters, and they don’t trust politicians, regardless of whether they’re a Republican or a Democrat.
Research shows 34 per cent of swing state voters never watched Kamala Harris’ convention speech and it was the same for Trump’s.
But this group holds the keys to the White House.
One-third of American voters live in swing states.
Their lack of interest in politics is reflected in the polls.
Trump took a bullet to his ear earlier this year and despite an outpouring of sympathy, the needle barely shifted.
Harris won the US presidential debate in a landslide and still her lead over Donald Trump is only minor.
The race is neck and neck.
And because Harris is still largely unknown, there is more pressure on the Democrats to sell their message harder and faster.
A new NBC poll has Harris ahead of Trump 49 per cent to 44 per cent. It’s an improvement from Trump’s two-point lead in July’s poll before Joe Biden’s departure, but it’s still within the margin of error.
These figures should remind them it’s not enough to dominate the news cycle.
The campaign teams behind both Harris and Trump know they need to diversify.
Social media has been used by both parties to target younger voters.
Harris’ campaign has leveraged momentum online since she announced her candidacy. Memes, TikTok videos, soundbites and mentions have all created headlines of their own, shared, and circulated millions of times over.
Donald Trump is using social media in the same way.
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has been saturated with pro-Trump content which the platform’s owner — Elon Musk — has been more than happy to propagate.
Trump has also used dominant, male podcasters with massive social media followings like Logan Paul and comedian Theo Von to help sell his message to younger male voters.
But still, more needs to be done.
The people who will decide this race are arguably the least interested in it.
Their reasons for voting for Trump or Harris will be based on the perception that the candidate will make their life better.
Their reasons could be economic, based on reproductive rights, or immigration.
Or it might just be that they know more about one candidate than the other.
They will likely make their decision without doing any research.
Which is why, with just 41 days to go, every little bit counts.
Isabelle Mullen is a Federal political reporter for 7NEWS
