(Washington) Pop superstar, youth idol and soon-to-be election campaign icon? Singer Taylor Swift's influence is at the center of everyone's wishes for the 2024 American presidential election.
Published yesterday at 11:18 p.m.
Robin LEGRAND Agence France-Presse
The 34-year-old artist, Time Magazine's Personality of the Year, is at the top of his game and is breaking absolutely all records.
One example among many: His “Eras Tour” exceeded the symbolic sales threshold of one billion dollars over 60 dates in 2023 – an unprecedented amount in music history.
PHOTO INEZ VAN LAMSWEERDE AND VINOODH, ARCHIVE AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Time magazine cover.
Hailing from rural Tennessee, Taylor Swift began her journey in country music, a genre particularly popular among conservatives.
The artist behind hits like “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood” has a 70% positive opinion among Americans, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Marist Institute.
A number that Joe Biden, whom she elected in 2020, can only dream of for himself: the Democrat's popularity rating, which has been declining since the beginning of his term in office, is now almost 40%. Positive opinions according to survey aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
Could Taylor Swift revive Joe Biden by calling to support him in 2024? The presidential candidate's campaign team is sure of that.
“Please don’t tell us we need a Taylor Swift strategy. We're following the file,” an executive from Biden's team joked Wednesday, sharing a job description for the campaign.
“Another level”
But is this support so easy to get? The singer was widely criticized by Democrats for not openly supporting Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump in 2016.
After years of caution, the singer ventured back for the first time in 2018, endorsing a Democrat in her home state of Tennessee.
In 2020, Taylor Swift officially announced her support for Joe Biden against President Donald Trump, accusing the Republican of “fanning the flames of white racism and racism throughout his term in office.”
The exact impact of this support on the Democrats' victory is difficult to quantify.
But since the last election, the artist has achieved a new status.
Taylor Swift “was popular in 2020, but her popularity […] has gone to another level,” says Matthew Harris, a political science professor at Park University.
The star is very popular among young women of voting age. Joe Biden is betting big that this electorate that brought him to power in 2020 will be reelected.
But polls among young people are not good for the Democrat, especially since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Many criticize his government's excessive support for the Israeli ally.
And according to a Harvard Institute poll released in early December, the number of young people surveyed who “definitely” plan to vote in the next presidential election fell to 49%, compared to 57% in fall 2019.
“Mobilize”
The participation rate in general and that of young people in particular will be one of the keys to the next presidential election.
And for Matthew Harris, Taylor Swift could certainly have the biggest influence in this area.
“I don’t think people say, ‘Oh! Taylor Swift supports Joe Biden, so I will vote for him,” he explains. The most important thing will be “his ability to mobilize people, encourage them To to vote,” because “these are people who are already inclined to vote for Joe Biden.”
Especially since the “Swifties,” as the singer’s fans are called, live mainly in residential suburbs, the political scientist adds, areas that are “the deciding factor for America’s political balance.”
Taylor Swift posted a message on Instagram in September urging her 272 million followers To to vote through the Vote.org platform.
Result ? The organization recorded more than 35,000 new registrations that day, a 23% increase compared to the same day last year and further evidence of the singer's influence.
The superstar could also promote mobilization through his positions, particularly on the issue of abortion.
When the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional guarantee of the right to abortion in 2022, the artist said she was “afraid” that women's right to control their own bodies would be taken away, a fight close to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, vice president .
But for the latter to win the singer's support, perhaps the president would no longer have to confuse her with Britney Spears, as he did in November…