President Trump risks backlash as MAGA world focuses on Taylor Swift

Supporters of former President Donald Trump are pursuing Taylor Swift amid talk of whether the superstar could win support for President Biden and enter the 2024 election.

Conservatives in both traditional and social media have been pushing conspiracy theories against the pop superstar, a trend that has continued since The New York Times reported that the Biden campaign is actively counting on her support. became stronger.

Trump, who is usually not shy about voicing his opinions, has so far stayed out of the fray, but Rolling Stone reported this week that allies of the former president have pledged a “crusade” against Swift. The report said that this would be especially true if Swift sides with Democrats in November. .

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has voiced his support for Trump, is perhaps the most high-profile Republican to pursue Swift so far, and the NFL comes as Democrats look for Swift’s Kansas City lover. This is fueling the theory that soccer matches are being rigged. support.

“I’m curious who will win next month’s Super Bowl,” Ramaswamy wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “And will we see massive presidential support from artificially culturally supported couples this fall?”

But a wider range of people, including fringe figures like Laura Loomer and Jack Lombardi and mainstream figures like Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who warned Swift to “stay out of politics,” Others in the MAGA world weigh in as well.

Attacking Swift carries significant risks for Trump, given his existing vulnerabilities with women and young people.

“Waging war on Taylor Swift is no way to appeal to young voters and women who are bleeding profusely for their stances on many issues, and the abusive men they have pushed into positions of power.” Certainly not,” said Kaivan Shroff, spokesperson for the Gen Z progressive group Dream for America.

Just this week, a Quinnipiac University poll highlighted President Trump’s weakness with women, who make up a large portion of Swift’s fan base. The poll showed Biden opening up a 6-point lead over the former president, with 58% of women saying they would support the incumbent, despite growing signs of a gender gap.

The poll adds to concerns that Trump’s unpopularity with women could hurt him in what is expected to be a close election. She has long been accused of sexism and recently drew criticism for attacking her primary opponent, Nikki Haley, following her victory in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, Biden’s approval ratings have been sluggish among young voters, who have criticized him for his age and his handling of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. That has raised hopes among Republicans that they can peel off a significant portion of that demographic in November, but Trump also faces challenges with them. According to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, voters under 30 will overwhelmingly support Mr. Biden over Mr. Biden in November.

The vital role that young voters will play in November was highlighted this week when the Times reported that Biden allies were aiming to woo Swift. Adult Gen Z and millennials make up more than half of Swift’s fan base, and the majority of her fan base is also female, according to a Pew Research breakdown from early last year.

“That would be a tsunami that would be very difficult to stop,” conservative activist Charlie Kirk said of Swift’s potential support for Biden, according to Semaphore’s Dave Weigel. “…You better be prepared. Things seem to be gearing up for that.”

In response to conservative outrage over the singer, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, called Swift a “national treasure” in “X.”

The singer has not yet revealed what role, if any, he will play in the 2024 elections. But she has been vocal about encouraging her fan base to register to vote, with more than 35,000 people signing up on her Vote.org last fall. She also supported Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections and supported the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign.

It’s hard to gauge how much influence Swift will have with young voters in November, but some data suggests she could tip the scales.

In a fall 2023 poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics, 19% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they would be “more likely to vote if they received a personalized call or text message from Taylor Swift encouraging them to vote.”

And a poll conducted this week for Newsweek found that 18% of voters said they were “more likely” or “very likely” to vote for a candidate supported by Swift.

“I think it’s a mistake for Republicans to focus their efforts on criticizing Taylor Swift,” said Gen Z for Change Deputy Executive Director Victoria Hammett.

“Republicans are having a hard time reaching young voters because of their policies, and their flimsy attacks on people like Taylor Swift are driving them further away from that voting base,” Hammett said.

Swift has stayed away from politics for much of her career, but broke her silence in 2018 by endorsing then-Tennessee Representative Phil Bredesen (D). Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R).

This is Swift’s first serious foray into elections, and a video clip released later shows her saying she regrets not speaking out during the 2016 presidential election. was.

Swift said of Blackburn in a 2018 Instagram post, “I can’t vote for someone who isn’t willing to fight for the dignity of every American, no matter the color of their skin, gender, or who they love.”

She also urged her fan base to “please educate yourself about the candidates running in your state and vote based on the candidate who best represents your values.” Appealed.

The “Miss Americana” star has since linked herself to LGBTQ activists and urged fans to sign a petition in support of the Equality Act. out loud He opposed the Supreme Court’s move to overturn Roe v. Wade and publicly opposed Trump.

She has also been inadvertently linked to some important issues, including antitrust issues surrounding Ticketmaster and concerns about AI abuse surrounding the blatant deepfakes that have been circulating in recent weeks.

“The most important issues for young people right now are the economy, the environment, abortion rights, and gun violence prevention,” said Marianna Pecora, communications director for Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led nonprofit organization. “And Taylor Swift is someone who has championed many of these issues in one way or another throughout her stardom.”

But young voters also balked at the idea of ​​basing their presidential candidacy solely on what the singer promoted.

“We are not a party-driven generation,” Pecora said. “We are an issue-driven generation. And I don’t think Taylor Swift’s endorsement will change that.”

Shroff said young voters are “more concerned about their own issues than what Taylor Swift tells them to do.”

Notably, Bredesen lost the 2018 Tennessee Senate race to Blackburn despite Swift’s support.

Abby Keesa, associate director of Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), points to a Harvard IOP poll showing that “more than a few people say they are likely to approve.” ” he pointed out. Swift supporter. But she also argued that “people are sometimes very understanding of how influential celebrities can be.”

David Jackson, a professor at Bowling Green State University who studies the effects of celebrity endorsements, says Swift’s current popularity “transcends” that of many A-listers, and he wonders how influential endorsements can be. He said it is difficult to estimate.

Jackson said Republicans’ attacks on Swift show they are “trying to muddy the waters” before getting the support they hope for, but Trump, the Republican front-runner, also said He pointed out that he was a celebrity who entered the political world.

“The Republican Party is in a bit of a pickle because they have their own celebrity candidates who have seriously undermined the credibility of the Republican Party when it comes to the argument that celebrities shouldn’t be involved in politics,” Jackson said of President Trump. Ta.