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I still fail to see anything resembling logic in the GOP's sudden war against Taylor Swift. I don't follow Taylor Swift at all, but to my knowledge has never publicly endorsed a candidate or even taken a side on a political issue. She is a pop singer currently enjoying outsized popularity, but it's mostly about catering to preteen girls, and showing up at NFL games acting as if she's just the world's richest starstruck fan.
Her base, or at least the ones old enough to vote, aren't interested in her politics. They're interested in her music. They're interested in her fashion. They're interested in watching her fawn all over Travis Kelce like she's a 12 year old girl. There was no overlap between Swifties and the political left.
But if the GOP wants to put that ball in play, there will be. They are currently trying to frame it as you can either be a Swiftie or MAGA. And if the GOP thinks that Swifties are going to abandon her for Donald fucking Trump, they're going to have a bad time. And given how tight the race is in some of the swing states Trump needs to carry if he has a shot at winning, there is a very real possibility that he could end up losing races in states he may have otherwise won because he pissed off enough Swifties to swing the election. (Remember that some of these states were decided by barely 10,000 votes. I will guarantee you there is not a state in the country that doesn't have at least that many Swifties, probably several times over.)
Taylor Swift's fan base aren't cans of Bud Light. Taylor Swift doesn't have corporate shareholders to answer to. Taylor Swift isn't going to back down out of fear of lost sales. Any Swifties that are motivated enough to go to the polls based off of this stupid culture war I will guarantee will vote in lockstep for Biden. Not even for policy reasons, but just as their way of telling the GOP to go fuck themselves.
They’re worried she will convince a fair amount of younger folks to register to vote. It will make it harder for them to cheat, so they have to invent crazy conspiracy theories about her instead of admitting their policies are just actual shit.
It's crazy how simple it is.
Just to be clear Taylor avoided commenting on politics until 2018. At that point she endorsed some Democrat candidates in TN. Since then, when asked, she had made it clear that she will never support DJT or the GOP in general. The GOP absolutely put this ball in play, because The View were the "reporters" that drug it out of her. You're correct that she seems to avoid politics like the plague, and with good reasons.
See I didn't even know that she did that much. I remember seeing one random clip from an interview at her house or something where she mentioned her position on abortion and she definitely came off as being left-leaning, but beyond that I've never heard her make a political statement. But again, it's not like I follow Taylor Swift. She could be Biden's campaign manager for all I know....
I think this is silly and her influence is blown way out of proportion.
But Taylor Swift has endorsed candidates in the past.
Taylor Swift Endorses Democratic Candidates In Tennessee
Taylor Swift endorses Joe Biden for President
She does seem to have an impact though.
Thank you for the information. Not that it changes much of my opinion, but I like to be informed, and I like to be told when the information I'm going on isn't correct.
They're mostly worried about this: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/22/1201183160/taylor-swift-instagram-voter-registration
They know what's coming. They can't stop it.
I mean, check all the numbers around the country. Obviously numbers are going to increase closer to election season, especially another very controversial one.
Let's just hope Swift isnt the big moving force, since the candidates she endorsed in Tenessee in 2018 lost while she was getting the same type of news stories
Meh, Tennessee is Tennessee. Can't expect much from there. I suspect they simply would've lost by wider margins. The key question is how her generalized drive for voter turnout influences youth turnout in hotly-contested swing-states. When youth turn out, Democrats win. 2022 midterms proved that.
Is Taylor Swift's fan base still "youth"?
Good question. I found this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1416130/share-of-us-respondents-who-consider-themselves-taylor-swift-fans-age
The thing about an angry ideolog is everything is at play. There is nothing they feel they can't weight in on nothing that isn't part of the unseen all powerful enemy.
Like I told my eldest once "it is very unfortunate but you are going to meet people in life who are going to punish you for the crime of existing and them noting it".
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/pop-star-taylor-swift-breaks-silence-endorses-two-democrats-tennessee-n917616
https://people.com/music/taylor-swift-tennessee-early-voter-numbers-triple/
I was always pretty skeptical about the impact Taylor Swift had on the 2018 election. There were a few other factors from 2016-2020 that definitely increased political involvement and compare 2014 to 2018 Senate voting numbers in any state. They all dramatically increased.
Also, Bredesen(the person Taylor endorsed) ended up losing.
You could have just ended the comment there...