Over the past decade, Taylor Swift has become a household name, currently on her record-breaking worldwide tour, the Eras Tour, and releasing a blockbuster concert film to go along with it. She has become a symbol of women’s empowerment as well as an advocate for musicians’ rights. With the impending 2024 elections, Swift’s name has been used in political conversations, with United States President Joe Biden’s campaign hoping for a major endorsement from the global popstar.
Biden will seemingly face an energized campaign from former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election and is searching for some major endorsements, including one from Swift. Over the past few weeks, the Biden camp has been hunting for that coveted endorsement, with Trump’s team calling it a “holy war” if Swift endorses Biden. Fox News commentators are going as far to urge Swift to stay out of politics.
The right-wingers have been promoting theories that range from “holy war” to Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, rigging the Super Bowl.
“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, on social media in January. “And I wonder if there is a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.”
The multi-Grammy Award winner has stayed out of the political arena for most of her career. The first time Swift openly endorsed a political candidate was in 2018, when she endorsed Democratic candidates in her home state of Tennessee.
“I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country,” Swift said in an Instagram post.
Since then, Swift has openly supported women’s rights and LGBTQ+ laws and has been a vocal critique of police brutality, racism and homophobia. Many fans have speculated she will endorse Biden — if she endorses anyone — as she has voiced her dislike for Trump.
“I’m sad I didn’t say anything two years ago,” Swift said, referring to the 2016 election, in her “Miss Americana” documentary.
“Taylor Swift has a huge impact on me personally but also on a lot of young women,” said Ansley Talafous, a senior middle grades education major.
Swift has a large fan base in America, with almost 53% of Americans saying they are fans of her, according to a March 2023 Morning Consult poll. Her Eras Tour has accumulated $1.04 billion and generated over $1 billion dollars for the global economy, making it the highest-grossing tour in history, dethroning Elton John’s multi-year Yellow Brick Road Farewell Tour.
The global popstar has an expansive reach over millions of people yet does not seem to fully affect their opinions on politics.
“I think that me and Taylor have similar values, so I would think that whoever she is endorsing would be someone that I would also vote for,” said Jordan Trippany, a junior early childhood education major and self-proclaimed “Swiftie.” “If she endorsed someone really terrible, I would not vote for them just because she is endorsing them.”
Experts warn that there is no sure way to pinpoint the exact thing that makes someone vote for one candidate over the other.
“If in fact it turns out to be a Biden-Trump rematch, how many people really haven’t formed an opinion about either of those two?” said David James Jackson, a professor at Bowling Green State University.
In an unusual election, a president versus. a former president, this young fan base could be the edge that Biden needs.
