Immediately after the first and possibly only presidential debate on Tuesday between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Taylor Swift took to X and Instagram to publicly support the Harris-Walz campaign.
In her post, the global megastar says that she felt she needed to release an official endorsement after AI images of her in MAGA regalia were shared by Donald Trump last month. She goes on to say that she’s done her research and is “voting for [Harris] because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” She also credits Harris’ pick of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate as a factor toward her decision, as he “has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”
The post featured an image of Swift and her cat, and, in a dig against the Trump-Vance campaign, Taylor signed the post as a “childless cat lady.” Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who is Trump’s running mate in this year’s presidential contest, has been lambasted by progressive groups for months following comments he made to Tucker Carlson on Fox News in 2021, where he called top Democrats like Harris, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Swift doubled down on her political activism on Wednesday where she used her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to ask those watching the program to vote in this year’s election. “If you are over 18,” she said, “please register to vote for something else that’s very important: the presidential election.”
In what is to be a very close presidential race, will this endorsement matter?
Taylor Swift has a significant cultural presence. She has over 280 million followers—mostly in the US—on Instagram, 32.8 million followers on TikTok, and 95.2 million followers on X. She sold over four million tickets for her Eras Tour between November 17, 2022, and November 15, 2023. Her tour made so much money last year that it was credited for helping the US economic recovery after COVID. Her devout fans dubbed “Swifties” have pushed her last two albums to #1 and her concert film of the Eras Tour to #1 at the film box office.
For all these reasons, her endorsement seems to be carrying weight. In the 48 hours after Taylor’s social media post and 24 hours after her VMA speech, vote.org saw a 400% spike in voter registration as over 400,000 Americans registered to vote.
While this Swift surge in registration is undeniable, this doesn’t mean that all these new voters will be supporting the Harris-Walz ticket. After all, Swift used social media to endorse the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020, and while it led to an uptick in voter registration, it didn’t move the polls. A May survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that a Taylor Swift endorsement of then-candidate Biden would only move 13% of the Republicans surveyed to consider voting for Democrats (the same study found 22% of Democrats surveyed would consider voting for a Swift-backed Republican).
Senior Presleigh Hamecher echoes this sentiment. “Taylor has a great way of influencing younger kids. But I’m not going to follow in her footsteps because she can’t change my opinions.”
Still, the Harris-Walz ticket is chasing these newly registered, mostly young voters. The campaign is selling Harris-Walz friendship bracelets specially intended for Swifties. The Harris-Walz campaign also brought in $47 million in donations on Tuesday night and Wednesday, though it’s unclear how much of this is connected to Swift and how much is connected to Harris’ strong debate performance. Swift, like Beyonce Knowles, has also given the Harris-Walz campaign to use music from her vast catalogue for their rallies.
Here is the text of Swift’s September 10 post in its entirety:
“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.
“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. 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.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris 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. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.
“With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady”
