The singer has more than 279 million followers on Instagram. Taylor Swift has been entertaining them with political messages for years. Now she is getting involved in the election campaign.
Taylor Swift’s concerts are always sold out, like here in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023.
Kevin Winter / Getty
America’s political observers have been waiting for this for months: Taylor Swift supports Kamala Harris. Shortly after the end of the first TV debate between Harris and Trump, the American pop star announced on Instagram that she wanted to vote for the Democrats. “I’m voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes that I believe need a fighter to represent them,” she wrote.
In the post, she also praises Tim Walz’s commitment to queer rights and the right to abortion. Both topics are important to Taylor Swift and appear again and again in her work. At the end of the post, she writes: “I did my homework and made my choice. Now it’s your turn, you have to make your own choice.”
The post is consistent with Swift’s political communication of the past few years: Swift has not made any explicit voting recommendations in previous political posts either. She simply urged her fans to vote. However, she always makes her own political opinion clear – and thus influences her fans. This could now have an impact on the election in November.
Because Swift is breaking all records: she is 34 years young and one of the most successful singers of all time. The American magazine “Time” chose her as Person of the Year 2023. With over 26 billion streams, she was the most popular artist on the music platform Spotify last year. Her 2023 tour became the most successful concert tour in music history.
Taylor Swift’s fans are young and progressive
More than 279 million people follow her on Instagram. Swift’s fan base is almost as large as the population of the USA with 332 million inhabitants. According to a survey by a American consulting firm Every second adult American describes themselves as a Swift fan, and 16 percent even describe themselves as an ultra fan.
The so-called “Swifties” idolize their idol. Music experts agree that there is no more intense fan culture than being a Swiftie. Swifties do what Swift says. And Swifties are young. Many of them are minors, and even among the fans eligible to vote, most belong to Generation Z and Millennials. The typical Swiftie is younger than 35 years old.
This is precisely where Taylor Swift’s political potential lies. The younger generation in America is less interested in politics than the older generation. In the last presidential election, only every second person under 30 to the ballot box, in the general population it was two out of three. The fact that Swift can influence young people politically was already evident in September 2023.
Every year in September, the US celebrates National Voter Registration Day. The artist called on her American followers to register to vote and pointed to the website created for the occasion vote.orgVoter registration is a prerequisite for being able to participate in elections in America.
The website vote.org subsequently recorded almost a quarter more registrations than the previous year, which corresponds to 35,000 additional registrations. The website operators emphasize that they have Swift to thank for this. In the hour after the post was published, the website had over 1200 percent more visitors than before. Back in 2018, Swift called on her fans on Instagram to register to vote. Then, too, thousands followed the call.
Statistically, the Democrats benefit from Swift
Especially in the swing states, where no party has a secure majority, the young people mobilized by Swift could make the difference in the fall and help the Democrats to victory.
In the 2022 House of Representatives election, 63 percent of those under 30 voted for the Democrats, while only 35 percent chose the Republicans, according to a Study Tufts University states that 38 percent of all Americans are under 30 years old, and 13 percent are in their twenties. Young people therefore have a significant influence on the election – if they vote.
Democratic politicians have long since realized that the star reaches young people much better than they do themselves. And so many are trying to profit from Swift’s popularity. When Swift stopped in Pittsburgh on her “The Eras” tour in the summer of 2023, the mayor renamed the city «Swiftsburgh» The mayor of Santa Clara made her city a center of the city in a video address on social media. «Swiftie Clara».
When Taylor Swift stopped at the Pittsburgh stadium during her summer 2023 tour, more than 73,000 fans cheered her on.
Ed Balint / Imago
Representatives from the right-wing camp, however, are trying to discredit the pop star. Fox News presenter Jesse Watters accused the singer of acting on behalf of the Democrats in order to psychologically manipulate Americans. The far-right radio presenter Stew Peters said that Swift uses witchcraft powers during her concerts.
How Taylor Swift became political
Swift’s political commitment is directed against the Republicans. She also processes this commitment in her music. “The moment you hear the news, you scream inside,” sings Taylor Swift in “Only The Young”. The song was released in 2020 and was written by the American artist as a response to the 2018 midterm elections in the USA. These elections had politicized her, Swift explained in a Interview with the American magazine «Variety».
The Republican politician Marsha Blackburn, who wanted to become Senator from Tennessee, took part in the election. Taylor Swift also lives in the Republican-dominated state. The musician found it unbearable that someone like Blackburn could win the race. A woman who, in her eyes, neither supports women’s rights nor defends the rights of queer people.
Swift therefore made her first political statement on her Instagram account and asked her 112 million followers to vote. Even though she did not recommend voting, she implicitly asked her fans to vote for the Democrats and prevent Blackburn from entering Congress. Blackburn won the seat in the US Congress anyway.
Swift deals with the feeling of helplessness in «Only The Young». The song is a hymn to the political power of change of a youth who dreams of a world on the move: towards more equality, harmony and justice.
Taylor Swifts Song «Only The Young» (2020).
Taylor Swift
Swift had already shown how important the rights of women and queer people are to her a year earlier with the song “You Need to Calm Down”. The 2019 song is considered her first political song.
In the accompanying video, there is a cake fight, with Swift in the middle of the fray. This can be seen as an analogy that she is now getting involved in American politics. Colorful cakes fly through the air, a fat man pours water on his belly, and Taylor Swift, wearing a French fry costume, hugs a woman dressed as a burger.
Opposite the tumult is an angry crowd. They are holding up signs with crossed-out rainbows in the sky. It doesn’t take long to figure out who they represent: people like Marsha Blackburn. “You’re being too loud,” Swift sings in the direction of the crowd. You’re too loud. At the end of the video, a text panel appears: Swift asks people to support her petition for the rights of queer people in the USA.
Taylor Swifts Song «You Need To Calm Down» (2019).
Taylor Swift
That was the beginning. Since then, Swift has regularly taken a political stance. In the summer of 2022, for example, she publicly spoke out in favor of a nationwide right to abortion, which the Supreme Court had recently overturned. The judges thus realized a long-standing concern of the Republican Party.
Swift’s fans now love her not only for her country pop, but also for her political engagement. Donald Trump is also aware of the pop singer’s influence.
Even when Swift opposed her state’s Republican Senate candidate in 2018, Trump said he liked Swift’s music now «25 percent» less. Since then, the singer has become even more influential. Will Swifties be able to stop Donald Trump? It’s possible. If that happens, Trump will like Swift’s music even less.
This article first appeared on 26 January 2024 in the NZZ. This version is an updated version.
