Why Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris is important

Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris for president, taking to social media shortly after Tuesday night's election debate to declare she would be backing the "steady-handed, gifted leader".

In an Instagram post to her 283 million followers, Swift shared a picture of herself cuddling up to her cat and signed off her message as 'Taylor Swift, childless cat lady', referencing comments made by Donald Trump's VP pick JD Vance.

"I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them," Swift wrote in the Instagram post.

"'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," she added.

Swift's post, her first on the 2024 presidential election, has already received 6 million likes. But given her previous political statements and endorsements, how much difference will it make to the November poll? Yahoo News takes a look at Swift's political evolution.

Read more: Kamala Harris beats Donald Trump at his own game in US election debate - and gets Taylor Swift's endorsement(The Standard)

What is the Swifties for Kamala campaign?

Taylor Swift's endorsement of the vice president comes following a long-running campaign from her fans (otherwise known as 'Swifties'), who raised more than $138,000 (£106,000) for the Harris campaign in a 'virtual rally' zoom call.

The Swifties for Kamala Coalition has more than 77,000 followers on Twitter, and its inaugural fundraising zoom call featured appearances from musician Carole King, and senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand.

"We’re actively organising grassroots efforts and hosting virtual and in-person events to support vice president Kamala Harris and progressive candidates," the campaign said on its website.

"We’re harnessing the power of fandom to boost voter turnout, create impactful social media campaigns, and drive engagement in key battlegrounds."

The campaign's social media manager, Rohan Reagan, previously told Cosmopolitan that the group was not waiting for Swift herself to endorse Harris.

“We are doing this outside of her, using the platform of Swifties as a way to get people involved in the election," she said.

However, following Swift's Instagram endorsement, the group said in a statement that it was "thrilled", and had always expected the singer to back Harris "at the right time".

Read more: Swifties harness their power for Kamala Harris(AFP)

What is the controversy around Brittany Mahomes?

Swift has come in for some criticism online after being pictured hugging her friend Brittany Mahomes, who is the wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and – if social media is to be believed – possible supporter of former president Trump.

Despite both Brittany and Patrick Mahomes remaining tight-lipped on their political views, Trump shared a post to his Truth Social website in early September that suggested he had their backing.

"I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me, and the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country," Trump wrote.

"With Crime and Illegal Immigration totally out of control, INFLATION Ravaging all Americans, and a World that is laughing at the stupidity of our hapless 'leaders,' it is nice to see someone who loves our Country, and wants to save it from DOOM. What a great couple - See you both at the Super Bowl!"

Neither Mahomes nor Swift has commented publicly on the post, but their friendship has come under scrutiny given Swift's previous comments about Trump and her own political endorsements.

Why has Swift spoken out now?

Despite previously commenting on politics, Swift had stayed tight-lipped on the 2024 election race until her recent Instagram post.

As well as stating that she had done her research and was backing the candidate she believed would champion the right causes, Swift also used her post to correct misinformation circulated online by Trump.

Two weeks ago, Trump shared AI footage to his social media page that purported to show Swift endorsing him, prompting the songwriter to issue a statement addressing the deepfake - and backing Harris at the same time.

"Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site," she wrote. "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.”

The former president batted back Swift's endorsement of Harris by suggesting it would cost her money.

"I was not a Taylor Swift fan," Trump told Fox & Friends. "It was just a question of time. She couldn’t possibly endorse Biden.

"But she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace."

Read more: Trump says Taylor Swift will ‘pay a price’ for her Kamala Harris endorsement(The Independent)

What is Swift's history of speaking out on politics?

In recent years, Swift has been open about her political views – but this wasn't always the case. Despite a bitterly fought 2016 election campaign between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Trump, Swift did not comment on the controversial polls.

In her Netflix documentary Miss Americana, Swift was seen discussing her eagerness to make her political views known – much to the chagrin of some members of her team, who were concerned that sharing her views on politics would make her less palatable to her audience.

She also commented to Variety that the shunning of the Dixie Chicks (who faced a huge backlash from fans in 2003 after they criticised George W. Bush) had led to concerns that she would lose work if she shared her political views.

"What happened to the Dixie Chicks was real outrage," she told the magazine. "I registered it – that you’re always one comment away from being done being able to make music”.

However, in 2018, during the US midterm elections, Swift finally broke her silence with an Instagram post in which she said she could not vote for Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee.

The post earned her a jab from Trump – who said he 'likes Taylor Swift 25% less' – and marked the beginning of her foray into politics. She later confirmed that she would have liked to endorse Clinton in 2016, referred to Blackburn as "Trump in a wig", confirmed she is pro-choice, and accused Trump of "stoking the fires of white supremacy" following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Swift also endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, as well as actively encouraging her followers to register to vote and take part in midterms and presidential elections.

Read more: Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris. Donald Trump has only himself to blame(The Guardian)

Will her endorsement make a difference?

Swift's endorsement carries some serious weight, considering the number of people who follow her social media accounts alone.

On hearing that Swift had backed Harris, her running mate Tim Walz said: "I’m incredibly grateful, first of all, to Taylor Swift. I say that also as a cat owner... That was eloquent and it was clear and that’s the type of courage we need in America to stand up.

"We’ve seen it out of those Republicans who were at the DNC. We’ve seen it out of women who would like to have their personal lives kept personal but are forced to go out there because they nearly died because they can’t get abortion services in a pregnancy. And now you have somebody like Taylor Swift coming out making that very clear. This would be the opportunity, Swifties: KamalaHarris.com, get on over there, get things going."

Top Republican pollster Frank Luntz predicted that Swift's endorsement would encourage people – particularly young women – to vote.

He told Yahoo News: "Young women are going to flock to the polls in 2024 for the first time since 2008. And that’s where Taylor Swift’s endorsement matters most."

Indeed, Swift's previous comments encouraging people to vote also appear to have resulted in bumps in voter registration, particularly among young people.

On Voter Registration Day last year (20 September 2023), Swift posted a message to her fans that Vote.org said resulted in a 22.5% jump in registrations from the previous year and a 115% jump in registrations of 18-year-old voters.

Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, said at the time: “During the day on Tuesday we saw a 1226% jump in participation the hour after Taylor Swift posted. Our site was averaging 13,000 users every 30 minutes – a number that Taylor Swift would be proud of."

But while people did register to vote, their voting intention is another subject entirely – and it is important to note that Swift's previous endorsements haven't always resulted in victory for the candidates.

In 2018, Swift endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen in the race against Marsha Blackburn - which the latter ultimately won - suggesting she has a limited capacity to influence the outcome of a vote as much as she galvanises her supporters to participate in the voting process.

Amy Walter, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Cook Political Report, told Yahoo News: "Taylor Swift's endorsement certainly reinforces the idea that Kamala Harris is the candidate with momentum.

"Generally speaking, however, celebrity endorsements don't make that much of a difference in a presidential race.

"In this race, vice president Harris is most likely to talk about the Republicans who have endorsed her because it's a more powerful argument to the swing voters who will determine the outcome of this election."

It is also worth noting that while the Swifties for Kamala group has a serious fundraising arm, there are plenty of MAGA Swifties - with the X account Swifties for Trump currently amassing a following of 20,000 people.

"Spoiler alert," the account posted following Swift's statement. "We're still voting for Trump."