With her historic Eras Tour, budding romance with NFL superstar Travis Kelce, and many other career milestones, singer Taylor Swift dominated American pop culture in 2023.
But beyond its cultural and economic impact, the name Taylor Swift also holds great potential in American politics. As the 2024 US presidential election approaches, Swift could be the catalyst to help President Joe Biden win re-election and end the political career of former President Donald Trump.
Singer Taylor Swift on the first night of her Eras Tours earlier this year (Photo: AFP/Getty).
Taylor Swift's Great Influence
It's hard to deny that Taylor Swift is a hugely influential figure in America this year.
Each city the singer visits gets a small economic boost. Swifties — Taylor Swift's fans — will spend about $93 million per show, according to estimates from AskPro Research . By the end of the tour, that number will be $5.7 billion.
“If Taylor Swift were an economy, she would be bigger than 50 countries,” said Dan Fleetwood, president of AskPro Research.
That was before Swift released her concert film about her historic tour, which has grossed $250 million worldwide and is still playing in hundreds of theaters more than two months after its release.
Beyond the economic impact, the cultural impact of Taylor Swift may be just as great. There are now 10 college courses in the US dedicated to the singer’s work, career, and impact, including one at Harvard.
Taylor Swift performs in Buenos Aires this year (Photo: New York Times).
After Taylor Swift started dating Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce, television viewership of the team's games increased significantly.
More than 50% of Americans consider themselves Taylor Swift fans, according to MSNBC . In a recent NBC News poll, the singer had a higher favorability rating than anyone else on the same list as Biden, former President Trump, and every other major American political figure.
In naming her Person of the Year, Time magazine called Swift "a modern-day master storyteller".
Taylor Swift once dabbled in politics
According to MSNBC writer Michael Cohen, Swift clearly shows her leaning towards the Democratic Party.
In 2018, she publicly endorsed two Democratic candidates in her home state of Tennessee, Rep. Jim Cooper and former Gov. Phil Bredesen.
Of course, Taylor Swift’s endorsement wasn’t the main factor influencing voters’ views. In the same 2018 election, Cooper easily won re-election in a district that had long supported him, while Bredesen lost to his Republican opponent.
Taylor Swift has not been shy about speaking out on political issues since 2018. In October 2020, she voiced her support for Mr. Biden, who defeated Mr. Trump that year.
Mr. Biden at a re-election campaign event this year (Photo: New York Times).
What's interesting is that even as American politics become deeply polarized, Swift's endorsement of the Democratic Party hasn't diminished her star status among her Republican fans.
Specifically, according to an NBC poll, the number of Republicans who have a favorable opinion of Taylor Swift is larger than the group that has an unfavorable opinion, although the difference is only narrow.
Still, the Republican Party is not Swift's primary target if she decides to make a run for the White House in 2024.
Taylor Swift's fans lean slightly Democratic
American political observers need only look at Taylor Swift's fan base to see the singer's potential influence.
Fifty-five percent of Swifties identify as Democrats, more than half live in the suburbs, and nearly three-quarters are white, according to MSNBC . And more importantly, nearly half of Swifties are millennials, a tough demographic for Biden.
So, for a candidate who needs votes from young women and suburban women like Mr. Biden, who could be a better spokesperson than Taylor Swift?
In 2020, Mr. Biden narrowly won Arizona and Georgia by about 11,000 votes, and also won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes (Illustration: Getty).
A recent Harvard poll found that the percentage of Americans aged 18-29 who “definitely” intend to vote in the presidential election has dropped from 57% to 49%, compared to a survey at this point in the 2020 election cycle.
This is an area where Taylor Swift can leverage her influence, according to AFP .
"I don't think this means that when people see Taylor Swift endorsing Joe Biden, they're going to think, 'I'm going to vote for him too,'" Dr Matthew Harris, a professor of political science at Park University, told AFP .
Instead, "it speaks to Swift's ability to rally people to register to vote," Harris added, noting that "these people may have been predisposed or more likely to vote for Joe Biden."
Just this September, an Instagram post by Taylor Swift to her 272 million followers about the importance of registering to vote caused a 1,226% spike in registrations on the nonpartisan website Vote.org, according to NPR .
In 2020, Biden won Arizona and Georgia by about 11,000 voters, and Wisconsin by 20,000 votes. Those numbers suggest that while Taylor Swift’s call to vote may have only reached a fraction of her millions of fans, that’s still tens of thousands of people who would have otherwise stayed home.
Those votes could make a decisive difference in battleground states in the 2024 election.
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