In the lead-up to a presidential election that would irrefutably transform American culture, Hillary Clinton took the stage at a rally in Virginia as she campaigned to become the first female president. Creating new apps,” she said. Now, most app developers aren’t even writing their own code anymore, thanks to AI, and Pokémon Go has been sold to a company wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
The only thing about that political moment that hasn’t changed is that “Pokémon Go to the polls” memes still crop up on every Election Day. Donald Trump tweeted his way through his first term, then later started his own social media platform; presidential campaigns hire meme managers; the White House invites podcasters and content creators to press briefings; Elon Musk even spun up his own advisory group under Trump that named itself after the cutesy doge meme and then slashed international aid programs. At the start of the new year, this yearning for the old internet became a viral sentiment as millions of people shared throwback photos from 2016 on Instagram.
Spotify reported that user-generated playlists featuring 2016 in their titles spiked 790% in the first three weeks of the year, and the company changed its Instagram bio at the time to say it’s “romanticizing 2016 again.” Never mind that, at the time, the internet perceived 2016 as a cursed year, even before the election — months earlier, one Slate columnist wondered how 2016 compared to 1348, the year the Black Death took hold in Europe. Organizer Memes also notes that some cultural touchstones that felt more significant then — like the obsession with Harambe the gorilla — haven’t had as much staying power as “Pokémon Go to the polls.” Perhaps this is because we’re bound to remember “Pokémon Go to the polls” every few years on Election Day, and because it appeals to both sides of the aisle. On the right, it’s a way to make fun of Democrats, and on the left, it’s a shared groan of embarrassment.
While the former vice president’s record as a prosecutor initially made her unpopular among some left-leaning young voters, they rallied around her once she became the only alternative to Trump. Gen Z rallied around Harris by creating flashy, absurdist “fan cam”-style edits of the candidate’s best quips in the aesthetic of Charli XCX’s album “Brat,” which soundtracked the summer of 2024. It’s shrouded in enough irony to project a sense of jaded detachment, yet remains a desperate, earnest plea to our friends: Please, just go vote.
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