The Brief: Young Democrats, progressives, and leftists are taking to social media to protest voting for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, after Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race on April 8. 

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DEEP DIVE

Across social media, young Democrats, progressives, and leftists are voicing their concerns over feeling they have to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race on April 8. Young Democrats are protesting across social media, using the phrase “Please Don’t Make Me Vote for Joe Biden” on TikTok and hashtags like #NeverBidenNeverTrump, #NeverBiden, and #BernieOrBust on Twitter, Facebook, and Google.

Some young voters feel as if they are being pressured into voting for Biden to keep President Trump from another term in office. Many feel as if Bernie had their best interests at heart, like promising to eradicate student debt. As a result of Sanders pulling out of the primary, hashtags #NeverBidenNeverTrump, #NeverBiden, and #BernieOrBust,  began to trend on Twitter and was used across Google, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

#NeverBidenNeverTrump reached 6.2 billion people and was included in over 27,900 conversations.

#NeverBiden reached in 213 billion people and was included in over 57,900 conversations.

#BernieOrBust reached 51.9 billion people and was part of 10,000 online conversations.

Many also tweeted Biden should not expect an automatic vote if he doesn’t revise his plans.

A similar movement emerged on TikTok in December 2019, when young voters started using  the phrase, “Please don’t make me vote for Joe Biden.”

On Dec. 12, 2019, user TikToker @userhewidj6ya1 (known as @bigtiddiehorsegf), posted a video chanting “Democrats, please don’t make me vote for Joe Biden” while shaking a bottle of pills. Since then, the video garnered over 314,000 likes.

@userhewidj6ya1Democrats♬ original sound – bigtiddiehorsegf

Then the video gained more steam on Twitter after it was posted by @brittanys on Jan. 2 with the caption, “A new-ish trend I’ve noticed: Tiktok teens (many of whom are approaching or are of voting age) really don’t want you to ‘make them vote for Joe Biden.'” The most popular version of this video has over 277k likes.”  The tweet received over 1,400 likes and 370 retweets.

The chant then resurfaced on March 3 when user @h_mkoczela uploaded a video in which a group of young people chant “Please don’t make me vote for Joe Biden” while another person twerked to it, gaining 209 likes. The chant was adapted again, on March 4 when user @asherelliott posted the chant. That video gained over 180,000 likes and 1.3 million views.

@h_mkoczelaPLEASE DONT MAKE ME VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN by @gr3gf0rd♬ original sound – h_mkoczela
@asherelliottplease don’t make us vote for joe biden♬ original sound – 69asher420

The chant became a song when YouTuber Matt Griffo uploaded a “Please Don’t Make Me Vote For Joe Biden Song” which received over 8,800 views.