Taylor Swift is one of—if not the most—successful female pop stars of our generation. She has won numerous awards and broken countless records. With her millions of fans, could her announcement change the course of the 2024 presidential election?
In August, Donald Trump reposted deepfakes of girls wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts on TruthSocial, with the caption, “I accept!” Swift, having never supported this movement herself, posted on Instagram, clarifying that she does not endorse Trump and that this incident scared her of AI’s possibilities. Taylor urged her fans to vote, and more than 405,000 users clicked the link she posted. She also publicly supported Harris, which Trump responded to with yet another post on TruthSocial, saying “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” This is not the first issue Trump and Swift have had. The two have criticized one another on many occasions, with Swift at one point saying she wished she had spoken against him publicly sooner.
Celebrity endorsements have had impacts on voters in the past. Before the 2020 election, Kylie Jenner made an Instagram post, encouraging her fans to vote; this prompted a 15,000% increase in traffic to the website she linked. In 2008, Oprah endorsed Obama. Researchers found that she affected votes through analyzing voting patterns of her magazine subscriptions.
According to a New York Times poll, 28% of voters said they wanted to learn more about Harris before casting their final ballot. Only 9% said the same for Trump. This means that potentially, a familiar celebrity sponsor could influence undecided voters or encourage new voters to vote for Harris.
So that brings me to my question—what impact will Taylor Swift have on voters? According to a Billboard article, election experts are torn. Veteran pollster and communications analyst Frank Luntz thinks that while the endorsement “will have an impact,” it will “probably not” be the deciding factor of the election. Former political strategist Rick Wilson disagrees: “Taylor Swift represents a different category of celebrity than almost anyone under the sun.” He goes on to reference the profound influence Swift has had in the lives of many young women, and thus that her endorsement has the potential to sway them.
HSMSE students replied to the following question: Do you think Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris will influence the election? Leila Pardieu (‘27) replied, “She has so many fans that look up to her … so I would expect her endorsement will have a pretty big effect on the election.” Kate Reifowitz (‘25) agrees, noting that “Lots of young people don’t turn out to vote for elections, so her reminding people about the importance of voting will probably convince some people … to go and vote.” Ariam Tedla (‘27) says that while she thinks it will somewhat influence the polls, it won’t be a deciding factor. She believes that “[It] will inspire people to vote, not to vote for Harris.”
One may also argue that Trump’s replies to her endorsements may make him an unlikeable candidate. If he continues to say demeaning things about Swift, who as mentioned is an integral part of the lives of many women, voters may be more against him. As we know, however, people tend to either love Taylor or hate her. This means that to some, her endorsement may make them more likely to vote for Trump. This adds to the uncertainty of whether her endorsement will impact the election at all, or if it will even out.
It will be interesting to see how Taylor Swift’s endorsement plays out in the election, along with other pro-Harris campaigns like “Kamala is Brat” (see “Brat Summer: The Rise of Kamala Harris”). We already know that celebrities have an impact on us, but the question is… how much?