![\"So](\"https:\/\/celebrityglee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/images-12-1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift has just endorsed Kamala Harris \u2013 but it\u2019s not just her vote Harris is after, it\u2019s her millions of fans.<\/p>\n
Weeks before Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris on Instagram, the gears had already begun to turn Swift\u2019s millions of fans into bona-fide Harris voters.<\/p>\n
Soon after Harris announced her intention to run for president, Irene Kim, 29, who spends as many as 14 hours a day talking to fellow Swifties online and has attended more than five of Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras tour concerts, sprung into action. Along with other mega-fans who supported Harris, they created social media accounts, memes, montages, and newsletters, all in a bid to help their favourite candidate win the election.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been going inside the world of the Swifties ahead of the Presidential vote for the second season of BBC Radio 4\u2019s podcast Why Do You Hate Me USA. Subscribe to the podcast for episodes soon. I\u2019ll be investigating how the online world of social media is shaping the US election. And when it comes to social media, Taylor Swift supporters are considered leaders of the pack.<\/p>\n
Now the executive director of the Swifties for Kamala campaign, Ms Kim decided to get involved because she wants the US to see its first female president and believes Kamala Harris will \u201cprotect our rights, the rights of our friends, our family members\u201d.<\/p>\n
With more than 3,500 volunteers, the Swifties for Kamala would seem like an experienced political operation. The group has even raised over $165,000 (\u00a3126,000) for the campaign since they began tracking donations from 1 August.
\nBut Ms Kim, who says she has never participated in political campaigning like this before, thinks everyone came together in a really \u201cnatural\u201d way. They\u2019re using the skills she says they\u2019ve developed \u2013 from strategising how to buy tickets for the sold-out Eras tour and auctioning off merchandise like signed Taylor Swift records \u2013 to try and swing an election.<\/p>\n
The Swifties for Kamala group is volunteer-led and independent of the Harris campaign, but they have been in touch.
\nThe conversations are \u201csurprisingly more casual than you would expect\u201d, Ms Kim tells me. They aren\u2019t entirely about the online world either \u2013 they\u2019re about translating that into real-world action.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re [the campaign] helping facilitate things like volunteer sign-ups and helping us coordinate volunteer training,\u201d Ms Kim says. Not just for in-person canvassing but also text and phone banking.<\/p>\n
So Bad: NFL Fans have criticized Taylor Swift after her endorsement \u201d Someone who\u2019s addicted to alcohol can\u2019t give political advice,focus on music and your toy boy Travis Kelce\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe can make requests. We really wanted a photo of Doug [Kamala\u2019s husband] standing behind Kamala so we could do the like \u2018he lets her bejewelled\u2019 joke.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The BBC reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not get a response.<\/p>\n The online world is a key battleground for both campaigns, and memes and videos from supporters that feel more authentic than paid-for ads could be effective at reaching younger, disengaged voters.<\/p>\n The army of Swifties could also be a way for the Harris campaign to go head-to-head with Donald All of that keeps Donald Trump at the top of some social media feeds. But that can backfire. In her Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris, Taylor Swift specifically cited misleading images of her supporting Trump as a reason to speak now.<\/p>\n \u201cIt brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth,\u201d she said in her post, that was liked more than 10.7m times. Since the post, it\u2019s been \u201cabsolutely madness in the best way\u201d, she says. Taylor Swift\u2019s online supporters have a reputation too for being devoted to her whatever it takes \u2013 and that can include being ferocious to those they see as her enemies. \u201cThey are very specifically about conducting yourself in a way that is respectful and specifically not engaging with hate online. And that also includes not posting hate. Have a respectful conversation,\u201d Irene tells me. Taylor Swift has just endorsed Kamala Harris \u2013 but it\u2019s not just her vote Harris is after, it\u2019s her millions of fans. Weeks before Taylor Swift endorsed… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nTrump\u2019s already very active base of supporters online. They operate a bit like a fandom too, and have proved effective at pushing out endless memes and pictures for the former president. Endorsements from \u2013 for example \u2013 tech boss Elon Musk have also sent Musk\u2019s devoted army of followers on X Trump\u2019s way too.<\/p>\n
\nIn one meme, which the former president shared on social media, an AI generated image of Swift endorsed Trump.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough Swift\u2019s endorsement specifically told her fans \u201cyour research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make\u201d, Swifties for Kamala is hoping that call to vote will translate into votes for Harris.
\nMs Kim says the group didn\u2019t know the endorsement was coming, but had planned for it anyway, hoping it would yield a wave of new volunteers.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to Ms Kim they\u2019ve seen a spike in voter registration activity and a \u201chuge boost on social media\u201d because of the endorsement. She also says it\u2019s been a \u201chuge morale\u201d boost for the Swifties involved in the group.<\/p>\n
\nWill they be trolling Trump supporters? Ms Kim says the group has actually come up with guidelines of their own about this to try to stop it from happening.<\/p>\n
\nThere are Swifties too who are Trump, rather than Harris supporters. Some Swifties for Trump accounts have been set up \u2013 although currently with fewer followers than Swifties for Kamala.
\nSeveral profiles belonging to Trump-supporting Taylor Swift fans have posted about her endorsement saying it hasn\u2019t changed their mind about who they\u2019ll vote for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"