There has long been speculation as to whether Taylor Swift might get involved in the US presidential election campaign. Now she is doing just that – at a surprising moment.
Washington – US superstar Taylor Swift has expressed her support for the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in an Instagram post. The post was published on the 34-year-old singer’s account immediately after the end of the first TV debate between Harris and Republican Donald Trump. Initially, the post was not shared on any of the artist’s other social media channels. There had been some speculation beforehand as to whether the pop star would speak out to express her support for Harris – and thus use her great influence among young people in the USA.
Swift wrote in the post on Instagram that she had watched the televised debate between Harris and Trump. It was a good time to find out about the candidates’ respective positions. Swift announced that she would vote for Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the upcoming presidential election. Referring to the Democrat, she wrote: “I consider her to be a calm, gifted leader and believe that we can accomplish so much more in this country when we are led by calm, not chaos.”
Support from a woman with enormous influence
Taylor Swift is a shining light in the USA. She produces one hit after another. She regularly breaks records at award ceremonies. Swift has an enormous influence among her fans and has around 283 million followers on the Instagram platform. Swift recently came fifth on the Forbes list of the world’s most influential women. In 2023, Time magazine named her Person of the Year. Swift’s personal fortune is estimated at over one billion US dollars. In recent months, she has made many headlines with a relationship with football player Travis Kelce.
The singer has a huge fan base. About 53 percent of adults in the US said they were Swift fans in a survey published in 2023. Swifties – that’s what her fans call themselves – are considered extremely loyal. Like the artist herself, most of her fans in the US come from suburbs or live in the countryside. About half are female and millennials – so, like Swift, they were born between 1981 and 1996. Around three quarters are white. So she has influence over an important voting group.
For Harris, support could be crucial in the election campaign against Republican presidential candidate Trump.
For years, Swift carefully avoided taking a political stance. In 2018, however, she caused a stir when she took a stand in Tennessee against the ultra-radical candidate for the US Senate, Marsha Blackburn. Since then, Swift has repeatedly taken a political stance and called on her fans to vote – with success. After one such call from Swift on Instagram in September 2023 alone, 35,000 new voter registrations were counted in a very short time. In 2020, Swift supported Joe Biden. At that time, she spoke out in favor of the Democrat relatively late in the election year. dpa
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