Skip to main content

How Nigel Farage Is Using TikTok To Challenge Rishi Sunak In UK Polls

Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, is currently in poll position to become the UK Prime Minister after the July 4 elections. While PM Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party faces an uphill battle to retain power, the return of Nigel Farage to front-line politics has only added to his woes. Leading the right-wing Reform UK, the pro-Brexit campaigner has been buoyed by a strong presence on TikTok.

The 60-year-old leader has become an unlikely breakout star on the app, with a five-second clip of him lip-synching Eminem's "Guess Who's Back?" pulling in over eight million views. 

Mr Farage's TikTok account has twice the followers as Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats combined. The Reform UK's TikTok presence stands out among political parties. With a following of 1,97,000, they far surpass their closest competitor, the Green Party. 

The Tories, Labour, and the Lib Dems did not even have official channels on the app until recently, with parody accounts the first to surface when users searched for the big three. By establishing a presence on TikTok, Mr Farage and Reform UK tapped into a younger demographic, setting themselves apart from other political parties.

The Conservatives top-performing clip, "this will change lives," features British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promoting his national service policy, It has 4.2 million views. However, Labour's 11-second response, a clever takedown using Cilla Black's "Surprise, Surprise," surpassed it with 5.1 million views.

Nigel Farage's success on TikTok comes courtesy of 23-year-old Jack Anderton, a self-described "concerned citizen" and right-wing Zoomer. "Zoomer" refers to a member of Generation Z, specifically someone born between 1997 and 2012.

Mr Anderton, a contractor for Farage, has been instrumental in creating content that resonates with a younger voter, as per Politico. His views align with Farage's, and he has expressed concerns about immigration and Britain's future. Mr Anderton represents the growing phenomenon of the "Zoomer Right," a Gen Z conservative movement gaining traction across Europe. Polling shows a large proportion of 18-24-year-olds plan to vote for Reform UK than 25-29-year-olds.

Reform UK's emergence on TikTok has surprised even party insiders. Initially, their views were modest, but as the party grew nationwide, their TikTok views "rocketed way ahead of any other platform," says Matt Stevens, Reform's press officer. 

This surge in popularity has been a pleasant surprise, given TikTok's predominantly young demographic. Mr Stevens believes this age group is "crying out for change" after years of Conservative rule, making them a key audience for Reform's message.



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/lRueBCO

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It's Official, Kamala Harris Is Democratic Candidate For US Election

US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump. Kamala Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month. "I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Kamala Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote. In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Kamala Harris has gained full control of the party. No other Democrats stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination a formality. The a...

Muhammad Now The Most Popular Name For A Baby In Great Britain, Data Shows

427 years after William Shakespeare wrote it for the first time in the great "tragedy" Romeo & Juliet, England is asking the quintessential question - "What's in a name?" - And this time wondering what significance that question might hold in another 42.7 years. The Department of Statistics in the United Kingdom has revealed in its latest dataset that Muhammad is officially the most popular name for a newborn boy in England and Wales. More than 4,600 babies were registered with that name in 2023 - the highest for a boy. Muhammad was the second-most popular name in 2022 as well. Noah, once the most popular name in UK, came a distant second this year, according to the Office for National Statistics or ONS. But the staff at Great Britain's statistical office has in-fact been observing the trend for a while now. Jotting down the most popular names in the UK, besides other important statistics, it revealed that Muhammad has been among the top 10 names for...

US Issues $25-Million Bounty On Venezuela President On Day Of His Oath

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture. Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July's election by both Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published. Venezuela's opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic. The months since the election have seen Gonzalez's flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and ...