Early on Wednesday morning local time, Taylor Swift's 283 million followers on Instagram were reached by a political stance in the upcoming presidential election in the USA.
Swift, who took a stand for the Democrats in the 2020 presidential election, again declared her allegiance when she announced that her vote will fall on Kamala Harris.
It's not the first time we've seen a celebrity announce a favorite candidate. We've experienced that many times, says Åsard and mentions Oprah Winfrey as an example:
She stepped forward when Obama broke through. People believed it would be a great advantage for him, it was, but it wasn't what decided the election. There's a tendency to overestimate celebrities' stances. Normally, it doesn't play any role.
Effect in a Close Election
But it could be different with Swift in 2024. According to Åsard, people between 18 and 29 years old are the age category that votes to the least extent in the USA – and it's also here that Swift is most popular.
Right now, there's hardly a bigger star in popular culture. She has enormous followers. I don't think she gets people to choose a candidate, but she can succeed in getting voters out and then they will probably vote to a much greater extent for Harris than Trump. It could have an effect in a close election.
Sveriges Radio's former USA correspondent Fernando Arias doesn't believe that Swift's statement will have a significant effect in the end.
A lot will happen during the coming months, and I think this will be seen as a parenthesis when we're up to November 5.
Ammunition for Trump
At the same time, Swift has managed to leave a certain political mark previously.
In 2018, she made a post about the gubernatorial election in Tennessee on her social media, and then you saw that it drew traffic to the election authority's website. But there, it was the other candidate who won, says Fernando Arias.
That a rich star like Swift is critical of Trump can also provide additional ammunition to the former president, notes Arias.
It plays into a narrative that Donald Trump has used since 2016. Namely, that there is a monetary and cultural elite in the USA that is not on the side of the ordinary, working American.
