After the presidential debate on September 10, Taylor Swift made a social media post regarding her vote. She decided to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in this upcoming election.
This came after Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image making it look like Swift was endorsing him. The image was a picture of Swift in front of an American flag with the words “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” In the caption of her post regarding the Trump situation, Swift said, “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Along with her post, Swift linked people to vote.org via her Instagram story. The site was used by over 400,000 people shortly thereafter. The site normally only receives about 35,000 visitors per day.
Swift has endorsed other presidential candidates in the past, including Joe Biden. In 2019 she told Vogue she wanted to endorse Clinton in 2016 but was worried about Trump and the public’s reaction. Many other celebrities including Beyonce, Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish have all also come out in support of Harris and Walz.
A New York Times article reports JD Vance saying, “We admire Taylor Swift’s music — but I don’t think most Americans, whether they like her music, are fans of hers or not, are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans,” in response to Swift’s endorsement. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee tweeted in 2018 about how Taylor Swift could be political, but she wouldn’t have an effect unless 13 year olds could vote.
Back in April, before Biden had dropped out of the presidential race, Tennessee’s Beacon Center conducted a survey on whether Taylor Swift could affect the 2024 election. According to them, 81% of people said a Taylor Swift endorsement would not affect how they voted, with 12% saying they would become more likely to vote for who Swift endorsed, and 5% saying it would make them less likely.
After Swift’s post, voter registration spiked in Pennsylvania. Because Pennsylvania is a swing state, this is a big deal. Swing states will be very important to this election due to the fact that Trump and Harris are currently neck and neck.
Megan Sweeny, the former communications director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said, “Taylor Swift can make more voters take action with a single social media post than most candidates can do in an entire campaign. Her brand is so powerful at the moment that any major campaign that ignores the impact of Swifties on the upcoming election puts their campaign’s success at risk.”
An organization started by Irene Kim called Swifties for Kamala has raised over $144,000 for Harris’ campaign thus far, according to a Billboard article. Swifties for Kamala recently ran a Zoom event attended by over 34,000 people. Senator Elizabeth Warren and singer Carole King were both in attendance to show their support. King even sang Swift’s hit song “Shake it Off” to encourage the crowd to volunteer for the campaign. The event led to over 41,000 people checking their voter registration status. Kim told NBC News, “We personally know what our values are. We also know what Taylor’s values are. She’s made them very clear to us.”
In another Billboard article, journalist Gil Kaufman discussed how Trump’s response to Swift’s endorsement could turn off young female voters. According to Kaufman, Trump posted on X, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” This could affect younger women’s opinion on him, regardless of whether they are a Taylor Swift fan. Seeing poor treatment of a woman who was just trying to share her opinion on the upcoming election could easily turn off any feminist from voting for Trump.
Swift’s endorsement, without a doubt, turned many heads this election season. Whether her support will actually have an effect is still up in the air, but every American’s voice deserves to be heard either way.
