Democrats Lean Into 'Thirst Trap' Image to Boost Midterm Appeal
From Abdul El-Sayed's biceps to Zohran Mamdani's smile, Democrats are using sex appeal on social media to rebrand a party with an image problem, a Guardian commentary argues.
Democratic candidates are increasingly leaning on physical attractiveness and flirty social media content to reshape the party's image ahead of the midterms, according to a commentary published in the Guardian by columnist Arwa Mahdawi.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has drawn attention for frequently wearing tight T-shirts that show off his physique and for incorporating fitness content into his campaign, the piece notes. Axios recently described the trend as Democrats entering their "thirst trap era," reporting that the party's main TikTok account has given "the thirst trap treatment" to figures including El-Sayed, New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Senator Jon Ossoff, whom internet fans have nicknamed "Senator My Boo."
A political analyst quoted by Axios said the party's TikTok page has made a "very intentional choice to feature the most attractive male members," even as women such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have also received attention.
The strategy has drawn mixed reactions from television commentators. Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt acknowledged the appeal of El-Sayed's T-shirts and Ocasio-Cortez's "pretty smile" but argued it doesn't change what she called the danger of the party's underlying philosophy. On CNN, strategist Yemisi Egbewole was more enthusiastic, saying Democrats are "coming out of the closet as hot people" and comparing the approach to lessons learned from former President Donald Trump about the power of entertainment.
Mahdawi's column notes that research supports the idea that attractiveness swings votes: a 2016 study found right-leaning politicians in Europe, the United States and Australia tended to be more attractive than their progressive counterparts, with "low-information" conservative voters especially likely to favor good-looking candidates. The piece also revisits the widely cited account of the 1960 televised debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, in which Nixon's poor appearance after a hospital stay is often credited with hurting his standing against a tanned, well-rested Kennedy.
The commentary comes amid polling cited in the piece showing the Democratic Party viewed less favorably than the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, part of the backdrop for what Mahdawi describes as an effort to shed an image of "out-of-touch technocrats."
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
