With Election Day around the corner, some households are finding that the best way to cope with political differences is humor.
On TikTok, dozens of users are posting tongue-in-cheek videos about how their vote will “cancel out” someone else’s on the opposite end of the political spectrum — including their parents, friends and partners.
The videos, some of which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views, usually show members of a family or household — like a husband and a wife, a boyfriend and a girlfriend, or roommates — walking together to cast their ballots.
The trend, which has become prominent on X, has also inspired a subgenre in which users showcase their gratitude for not having to “cancel” the vote of someone close to them because they share the same beliefs.
While votes don’t actually “cancel” each other out, the trend has become a way for some to avoid arguments and instead make light of what is expected to be a very tight presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
A recent NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z Poll powered by SurveyMonkey found that Harris has a significant lead among young registered voters, but a yawning gender gap is dividing Gen Z. Six in 10 Gen Z voters who said they plan to vote for Harris reported that, if a friend planned to vote for Trump, it would put a strain on their relationship, according to the poll. About a quarter of those who plan to vote for Trump said their friendship would be strained if a friend planned to vote for Harris.
“The trend I did as a joke, but just like taking a step back and realizing that people can co-exist even though nowadays politics can also drive people apart,” said Mackenzie Owens, 19, who posted about “canceling” her boyfriend’s vote.
Owens, who is voting in Pennsylvania for the first time, declined to say who she is voting for. But she said she and her boyfriend of two years are able to respectfully discuss their different political views.
Some who participated in the trend said it was a fun way to alleviate tension ahead of a stressful election.
Becca Puga, who posted about how she needed to cancel her father’s vote in Utah, said she doesn’t mind if her father sees the video because he wouldn’t take offense to her joke.
“Although they are very conservative, very Christian, they raised me to have my own thoughts and values, and they give me space to do that,” Puga, 28, said of her parents. “So when I posted that, I wasn’t worried about any family member seeing it, because my dad would think that that’s funny.”
Others said the trend was a way to celebrate their shared political values with people close to them.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me that my husband was going to vote for Harris and Walz. He and I have aligned political views, and he is just a card-carrying feminist,” said Robin Nickell, 49, who lives in Bradenton, Florida, and posted a video on TikTok. “It was kind of a husband appreciation post.”
Morgan Provenzano, 35, posted about how she felt lucky that she wouldn’t have to cancel out her father’s vote in Virginia.
“He’s been a pastor for 30 years. He’s a boomer. He’s 76 years old, and for all intents and purposes, on paper, that might lead you to think he would vote a certain way,” said Provenzano, who said she is voting for Harris. “And so I’m just that much more grateful that we do align on what’s happening.”
CORRECTION (Oct. 28, 2024, 10:55 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the first name of a first-time Pennsylvania voter. She is Mackenzie Owens, not McKenzie.
