Taylor Swift's High-Profile Democrat Endorsement Seems To Have Backfired
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift recently made headlines when she ended her career-long silence on political issues by writing a lengthy Instagram post in which she took a side in the Tennessee Senate race — but her post may not have had the impact she was hoping for.
Swift voiced support for Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen on Instagram.
“I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country,” she wrote. “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
However, the 28-year-old singer’s leftist activism apparently didn’t help sway voters. In fact, her detour into politics may have backfired.
While election officials say there has been an increase in voter registrations, the majority of people weren’t convinced by the celebrity endorsement, according to Cygnal.
The Republican polling and research firm conducted a statewide survey of likely general election voters under 35 on October 13 and 14. While 82 percent of respondents said they knew about Swift’s much-publicized endorsement, 86 percent said her endorsement had no impact on their voting.
Matt Hubbard, vice president of research and analytics at Cygnal, said Swift didn’t really bring more young voters to the left.
“Millennial and Gen Z voters are highly aware of the endorsement of the Democrat, but it did little to move their vote preference,” Hubbard said. “Swift’s endorsement is providing a boost to get-out-the-vote efforts, but we’re seeing minimal impact on the race.”
In fact, respondents who said they were affected by Swift’s words were actually slightly more likely to support the candidate planned to vote against. Of the potential young voters, 6 percent said they now planned to vote for Bredesen’s Republican opponent Marsha Blackburn thanks to Swift’s post, while an underwhelming 5 percent claimed that Swift convinced them to vote for Bredesen.
However, that’s not to say that the next few weeks are going to be smooth sailing for Blackburn. The survey showed that Bredesen still had a 14-point lead over Blackburn with voters under 35. He came in at 50 percent, while Blackburn polled at 36 percent.
Another 10 percent of voters of this age group said they were still undecided. Swift is continuing to spur on her fans to vote, writing on Thursday about the beauty of early voting.
“Something I wish I knew about when I was 18 and voting for the first time: EARLY VOTING,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo showing off her red, white and blue toenail polish.
“It makes it so quick and easy to go and cast your vote before November 6. Early voting starts TODAY in Tennessee and goes to Nov 1.”
She also pointed followers to a link to an early voting calendar showing early voting is available for each state.
But the meager result of Swift’s efforts to influence her fans politically shows how tired people are of liberal celebrities pushing their politics down people’s throats. While the left has praised Swift effusively for her foray into the politics, it appears that the average American doesn’t actually look to entertainers for political wisdom.
Shocking, right?
As entertaining as it may be for the liberal media to find a new pop star ally, heartland America obviously feels that Swift should stick to singing.
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