Global pop sensation Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris has boosted the Democratic vice president’s hopes of attracting young voters, but the question is: will the celebrity endorsement make a difference on election day?
Caught in a tough competition for the White House, both Kamala Harris and her rival, Republican former President Donald Trump, are making every possible effort to woo voters on election day on November 5 and in the early voting that begins next week.
At the same time, Trump dismissed Swift’s endorsement of Harris on Tuesday night, saying he’s “not a fan of Taylor.”
In a country where the voting age is 18, with voter registration falling among young people, the first challenge for any campaign is likely to be getting them registered to vote.
Young voters played a decisive role in Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over then-President Trump in 2020. Biden won nearly 61% of the vote among voters aged 18 to 29, compared to 36% among voters aged 18 to 29, according to data from Tufts University.
A July 2024 analysis by CIRCLE, a youth civic engagement group at Tufts University, found that voter registration among people aged 18-29 had declined significantly in 36 states since then. Harris launched her campaign on July 21, after Biden withdrew.
“Registration of youth will remain a huge task in the coming months,” the analysis said.
Swift is such a successful artist that she tied hip-hop star Beyoncé’s record of 30 lifetime awards at the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday night. A 2023 Morning Consult poll found that 55% of Swift’s self-declared fans were Democrats and 45% were millennials aged 28 to 43.
“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for rights and issues that I believe need a warrior to push them forward,” Swift wrote to her 284 million Instagram followers on Tuesday. She urged them to register to vote and make their own choice.
Her post received 10.4 million “likes.” A U.S. government spokesperson said the vote.gov website had 405,999 visitors in the 24 hours after Swift shared the custom URL with her followers.
Harris’ aides say they want Swift to actively campaign, such as attending rallies in her home state of Pennsylvania, a battleground state that could decide the election.
But Swift’s decision to endorse Harris did not involve the campaign itself.
Aides to the vice president said he learned of Swift’s endorsement when the 34-year-old entertainer posted it on Instagram just minutes after he stepped off the vice presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
The question of influence
What difference does a celebrity endorsement make?
A 2008 report by Northwestern University found that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement added one million votes to Barack Obama’s vote share.
But a 2010 report from North Carolina State University found that celebrity endorsements by George Clooney and Angelina Jolie did not move the political needle much.
Arizona State University professor Margaretta Bentley, whose class studies Swift’s social significance, is unsure whether the pop singer will have any impact. She asked her students earlier this year whether Swift’s endorsement would matter.
Some said they would follow Swift’s lead and others said it would inspire them to do more research. “Some students told me they listen to celebrities when it comes to drinking coffee, not politics,” Bentley said.
Morgan Paris, a fan of Swift’s at the VMA awards on Wednesday, said: “It’s cool that she said what she feels. And I mean, I think her politics and her music are two different things, so you can’t really connect them together.”
Ashley Spillane wrote in a study published last month by Harvard’s Kennedy School that nonprofits found “higher rates of online voter registration or poll worker registration when a celebrity promotes these actions.”
“While some surveys suggest that people claim they are not influenced by celebrity voices when it comes to politics, more substantial evidence indicates that these voices are incredibly powerful,” Spillane said.
Quick action from Harris
The Harris campaign and her supporters are taking this support a step further by announcing pre-orders for their latest campaign apparel: friendship bracelets inspired by Swift fans.
The progressive group MoveOn.org is selling Swift T-shirts that play off Swift’s ongoing Eras concert tour. Spokesperson Britt Jakovich said the shirt that reads “In My Voting Era” is the fastest-selling item the group has sold this year.
Voters of Tomorrow, an organization that works to boost young voter turnout, teamed up with the informal group “Swifties for Harris” on Saturday to launch a phone bank aimed at college students in Georgia and Wisconsin, both battleground states like Pennsylvania.
“Swift is one of the most influential people of our generation, and we’re definitely excited to see how we can translate her message into more political action and get more people involved,” said Jessica Sills, a spokeswoman for Voters of Tomorrow.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
