If you’ve surfed the web for Tim Walz, you’re not alone.

“People are curious,” says April Eichmeier, an assistant professor of strategic communication at the University of St. Thomas. “As you know, Tim Walz isn’t known necessarily outside of Minnesota.”   

Walz has high name recognition in the state.

He represented the 1st District in Congress and is serving his second term as governor.

But new reporting shows that most Americans know very little about our governor or his record. 

Look at Wikipedia, for example. 

On Tuesday, when Walz made his first campaign appearance with Kamala Harris, his name on that platform shot up to 3.8 million views from almost zero just a few weeks before.

“One of the great rules of politics — define or be defined,” says David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University. “So, this is his challenge now.”

Several polls point out that could be a big challenge.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll, done while Walz was being vetted, showed nine of 10 U.S. adults didn’t know enough to have an opinion of him.

Another poll put that number at 71%.

“There is an opportunity for him here to paint the story he wants to tell,” Schultz says. “But there’s also the opportunity for the Republicans to paint the story they want to tell.” 

Experts say both campaigns have millions to spend on advertising.   

“We have an old saying, perception is reality,” Eichmeier notes.

She believes social media, especially for Gen-Z and younger voters, will be key in this election.   

“On social media of course, it’s a different dynamic,” Eichmeier explains. “People can take content and remix it and make memes, and the campaign has less control over that.”

Nevertheless, experts say they expect Walz to be on the campaign trail non-stop from now on and that he’ll have ramped-up appearances, including on television.

Eichmeier says the mediums for these candidates to make themselves known to those key younger voters might be new.

But she notes the message on both sides remains the same.  

“Goal one is to define their candidate in a way that they believe will win elections,” Eichmeier explains. “The other goal is to define the other candidate in a way that they believe will make them lose.”