What impact will Taylor Swift really have on the US elections?

BBC

Noel Drake, a 29-year-old who lives in Utah, said she felt very gloomy about politics before this year.

During the 2020 presidential election, she felt completely disillusioned.

But Taylor Swift and her fans helped change her mind, she told me.

“With this sense of community that I've established by interacting with other Swifties online, it's really changed the way I interact with politics during this election cycle,” she said.

After Swift endorsed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris a month ago, Ms. Drake began following a fan-led campaign group called Swifties for Kamala. The group is not officially affiliated with the Harris campaign, but remains in regular contact with campaign staff.

Since interacting with other like-minded Swifties, Ms. Drake has decided to get more involved in local campaigns in her home state.

The BBC tracked down dozens of voters like Ms Drake, who says social media posts from Swift and her mega fans motivated them to vote or get involved in activism. But just because you're a Swift fan doesn't mean you're going to vote like her, I've learned.

For the latest episode of BBC Radio 4's Why Do You Hate Me USA, I investigated how pop meme enthusiast Irene Kim – Kamala's co-founder of Swifties – found herself transformed from superfan to political strategist. Did any of the tactics she and her fellow activists used actually work?

Over the past month, I've messaged several accounts that like and comment on Swifties for Kamala posts.

Although some were already Democratic supporters, others weren't so sure.

Take Destiny, 27, from South Carolina, who doesn't want to share her last name. She said that she and her boyfriend aren't that political, but that the Swifties posts for Kamala helped support her reasoning for voting for Democrats this election.

I really want a female president who shares the same values ​​as me. This is my first election that made me vote for this reason, she said.

Even her boyfriend, who she described as moderately conservative, was swayed to vote for Harris, and she said that was partly inspired by his lobbying based on some Swifties posts for Kamala.

Irene Kim

Irene Kim is the co-founder of “Swifties for Kamala”

Part of the appeal of celebrity endorsement and political content generated by their fandoms is that unlike paid ads, this type of user-generated content appears authentic.

A Harvard Kennedy School study that examined the impact of celebrities on voter registration found that their authenticity can be key to motivating people to vote.

Its author, Ashley Spillane, told the BBC that celebrities are among the members of society best placed to address the causes of voter apathy, such as lack of information, lack of trust and lack of motivation.

People know them outside of politics, which makes their involvement deeper and less self-serving, she said. Within 24 hours of Swifts Harris' endorsement on Instagram, nearly 340,000 people had visited vote.gov, a registration website, using a custom link she created.

While Harris has enjoyed support from Swift, Beyoncé, and a few other A-list celebrities, Trump isn't without fans either. Endorsements from Kid Rock, Elon Musk, John Voight and YouTubers Nelk Boys could help him reach young men in the same way that Swift's support boosted Harris' profile among young women. Engaged Trump supporters online also function much like a fandom.

However, support may backfire, according to polls. A Quinnipiac University poll taken in late September found that Swift's support for Harris made 9 percent of respondents more enthusiastic about her candidacy, while it made 13 percent less enthusiastic. The study also looked at how Elon Musk's endorsement affected respondents' opinions of Trump: 13% felt more enthusiastic, while 21% felt less. Ultimately, we won't know exactly what impact celebrities — and their fandoms — will have on this election until November.

In what appears to be a very close election, it is these online partisan groups that could motivate voters to go to the polls, especially in swing states where the winner can be decided by just thousands of votes.

Ms. Kim, co-founder of Swifties for Kamala, told me the group particularly targets people living in swing states.

Peggy Rowe is in Arizona, one of the most closely watched states during elections. She told me it was Harris' support for abortion rights that strengthened her support for the vice president.

I am very passionate about reproductive rights and social media has further confirmed my views, she said.

Although they employ all the traditional political campaign methods, Swifties for Kamala brought a specific twist to their efforts. Every time they attend events, they hand out friendship bracelets emblazoned with political slogans, just like in my election days. It's a nod to Swift's Eras tour, where fans exchanged Swift-themed friendship bracelets as a sign of being a true fan.

Ms Kim said they started a face-to-face campaign a few weeks ago and called and texted their followers directly. They aim to have a total of 22 million direct contacts with voters by Election Day.

The Swifties for Kamala group has raised more than $200,000 ($153,000) for Harris' campaign as of mid-October, she estimated.

There are, however, Swift fans who were not swayed. I spotted comments from several Republican and Trump supporters who chose their favorite politician over their allegiance to their favorite pop star, and I sent them dozens of messages as well.

Bri, who lives in Massachusetts, says she chooses to vote Republican anyway because at the end of the day, people have to do what's best for them.

She told me she thinks Swift has such a devoted fan base that she should stay out of politics to be fair to all parties.

Taylor Swift is entitled to her own opinion, she said, but:

She's the only celebrity who has so much influence that she shouldn't mention politics during an election year. »

And while he didn't get her support, Donald Trump supporters tried to harness the voting power of Swift fans, creating an AI-generated meme of Swift supporting the former president. In fact, it was Trump who shared the meme on social media that prompted Swift to support Harris in the first place.

Bri said she would never like someone because of their political beliefs — including fans who are part of Swifties for Kamala. But that doesn't mean all online conversations are friendly.

Ms. Kim told me that getting into heated arguments online is a bit of a rite of passage for Swift fandom. But campaign group Swifties for Kamala now has guidelines to prevent that from happening, in part because it wants to win over voters who don't share the same views.

I think it's always good to try to bridge the gap, she said.

Fandom Frenzies: Who's afraid of little old us? is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds

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