Taylor Swift's Political Influence: Mobilizing Voters and Shaping Public Opinion

Swift endorsement mobilizes over 3X more voters than Biden

Miss Americana finally weighed in on the future of the nation, or at least who should hold the reigns. Last week, billionaire pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris right after the debate. We're just now starting to see how much power the Swiftie voting block holds, as Swift's impact solidifies. Her long-awaited stance on the upcoming election was delivered that week with an Instagram post that carried a custom link to register to vote. In just 24 hours a total of 405,999 visitors went to her unique link, a GSA from vote.gov tells Fortune. President Biden's power seemingly pales in comparison. Biden backed Harris just shy of 2 p.m. on July 1st with a memo posted to Twitter. While he didn't have a unique URL, his endorsement's weight can be measured (while perhaps casting a wider net) by looking at traffic from vote.gov that same 24-hour period. During that time frame, there was a total of 109,208 total users to said site, according to GSA. That's all to say, Swift's endorsement carried 3.7 times the weight of Biden's. Visitors to vote.gov vary too widely to provide a consistent daily visitor average. Vote.gov tends to receive more visitors during presidential election years, and around significant election events. During the eve and day of the debate, Vote.gov received around 726,000 visitors. "Taylor Swift's impact on voter engagement is undeniable," Andrea Hailey, CEO of nonprofit voting registration, vote.org, said in a written statement to Fortune. "The important thing to remember is that Taylor's work serves as a model that everyone with a platform can use to encourage Americans to participate in civic engagement," she adds, speaking to the pervasiveness of social media that makes everyday citizens influencers. Swift spoke out against an AI post using her likeness in which she appeared to endorse Former President Donald Trump, as shared by Trump on his platform Truth Social. "I've done my research, and I've made my choice," she wrote, explaining she's voting for Harris as a champion of causes she believes in and her running mate Tim Waltz as he supports "LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body." She signed her letter "Taylor Swift, childless cat lady," as an apparent reference to Trump's running mate JD Vance's comments. Her statement drew ire from Trump. Never one for subtleties, he posted "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!," to Truth Social last Sunday. In response, fans mobilized. A group named Swifties for Kamala announced the next day that they raised more than $40,000 for Harris' campaign. The group reports to have raised more than $207,000 in less than two months, per AFP. People are divided on Swift, as 44% of "likely voters" report feeling favorably for her and 34% unfavorably per a New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College poll conducted in September. But no matter what party you're in, there's no denying Swift's apparent influence. In just six months, her Era's Tour generated $5 billion in consumer spending according to estimates from Nomura. United Airlines says that Swift's concerts sent travel demand up by 25%. With a cultish following that leads to fans traveling nationally to her concerts, Swift has fashioned herself into more of a corporation than a pop star. Her fame has reached the point that she outperforms even Biden in terms of political influence. It might be because Swift's target audience leans younger than Biden. The former Democratic candidate struggled to attract younger demographics due to his stance on immigration, Palestine, and concerns regarding the economy and his mental acuity -- per a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. As for the average Swiftie, many are white millennial women living in the suburbs, writes Juliana Kaplan for Business Insider while referencing a Morning Consult survey released in March. A good 55% identify as Democrats and the rest as Independents or Republicans. In the past, Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton lost the vote in part due to white women shirking them. Perhaps, lending weight to Swift's endorsement. Swift courts the Gen Z and millennial crowd with perhaps better success. Vote.org explains in a statement that they are looking to appeal to these generations. "Younger voters under 35 have accounted for 79% of the over one million new voters we have registered, and 18-year-olds accounting for over one-third of new registrations," notes CEO Hailey.

Who do voters really like? Taylor Swift

If you think about it, Taylor Swift has been on the trail -- in the form of her Eras concert tour, which began in March 2023 -- for about as long as a typical presidential candidate who goes the distance. She has been to more than a dozen states and performed before hundreds of thousands of people. She even went to the Super Bowl. But that is not why The New York Times tested Swift's "favorable rating" in its latest presidential poll, among likely voters nationally. Last week, Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the presidency, following months of speculation, creating a frenzy of news coverage and analysis of her potential impact on the campaign. According to a New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College poll, which was conducted Sept. 11-16 -- after the debate and Swift's endorsement, which immediately followed -- 44% of likely voters nationally have favorable views of the star musician, while 34% have unfavorable views of her. Swift posted her endorsement on Instagram, writing that she was supporting Harris "because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos." The Times has never polled voters about Swift before, but it appears that her decision has quickly divided Americans along partisan lines. Among Democrats, 70% view her favorably, compared with 23% of Republicans. Among those with an unfavorable view, of course, is former President Donald Trump, who, over the weekend, wrote in a post on Truth Social: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" It's worth wondering whether a well-selected lyric -- say, "And it would've been sweet, if it could've been me" -- from Trump might have elicited at least some sympathy from Swifties, who, through her songs, are intimately familiar with heartbreak and rejection. According to the Times/Inquirer/Siena poll, 47% of voters view Trump favorably, while 51% view him unfavorably. Harris is viewed favorably by 48% of voters and unfavorably by 49%. In the weeks before Swift's endorsement, Trump shared false memes online, generated by artificial intelligence, suggesting that she had endorsed him. Swift referred to such misinformation in her endorsement last week: "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." Of those surveyed in the poll, another 22% said they did not know how they felt about Swift, declined to say how they felt about her, or did not know who Swift was. These voters were -- as should surprise no one -- especially likely to be older than 65 and male.