Taylor Swift endorses ‘warrior’ Kamala Harris for US president

Pop superstar Taylor Swift has said she will vote for US Vice-President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, on Nov 5, dropping a much-awaited endorsement just after

a high-stakes debate between Ms Harris and former president Donald Trump.

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election,” Swift said in a Sept 11 post on Instagram that drew more than three million likes in less than an hour.

Swift, one of America’s most celebrated pop-culture icons with a giant following worldwide, endorsed the Democratic Party’s ticket mere minutes after Ms Harris and Trump stepped off the debate stage in Philadelphia.

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” she told her 283 million followers on Instagram. “If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most.”

Swift added that she is backing Ms Harris “because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them”.

“She is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” said Swift.

By most accounts of the debate, Ms Harris was able to deliver a concise and clear message on crucial issues such as abortion, immigration, the US economy, law enforcement, and the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

Trump, on the other hand, came off as angry and defensive, as he sought to characterise Ms Harris as a policy lightweight who was far too liberal to lead the nation.

Swift said she was also swayed by

Ms Harris’ selection of Mr Walz as her running mate,

citing the governor’s stand on LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) and women’s rights.

She signed her post “Childless Cat Lady”, in a jab at Trump’s running mate,

Senator J.D. Vance, who has been panned for criticising women without children.

The photo that accompanied her post showed her holding her pet ragdoll, Benjamin Button.

Mr Walz said in an interview on MSNBC that he is incredibly grateful for the endorsement. “I say that as a fellow cat owner,” he added.

Citing Swift’s advocacy for women’s rights amid Republican efforts to ban abortion across the US, he said: “That was eloquent, and it was clear, and that’s the type of courage we need in America to stand up.”

On Sept 11, in an appearance on Fox News, Trump panned Swift for the endorsement. “I was not a Taylor Swift fan... she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace,” he said.

Ms Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, dismissed Swift’s endorsement as “more evidence that the Democratic Party has become the party of the wealthy elite”.

Swift said she decided to officially come out with an endorsement of Ms Harris and Mr Walz after an artificial intelligence-generated image of her surfaced falsely claiming she was backing Trump.

“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It 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,” she added.

“I’ve made my choice,” Swift said, adding that she arrived at it after doing her own research.

“Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make,” she told her fans.

She also urged first-time voters to make sure they register so they can make their votes count.

Democrats have long been anticipating the endorsement.

Swift has embraced a more political posture during the last several years and become more outspoken on issues such as abortion access.

Yet, it is uncertain how her broad appeal and ability to cut through a crowded media environment will move the needle in an electoral race where the margins have been razor-thin, especially in key battleground states.

Swift endorsed Mr Joe Biden for president late in the 2020 race, but failed to meaningfully sway voters in 2018, when she backed Mr Phil Bredesen, a Democrat and a former governor of Tennessee, over Ms Marsha Blackburn in a Senate race that Ms Blackburn won. 

But Swift’s popularity cannot be discounted, and it cuts through all sorts of American divides.

An NBC News poll in 2023 reported that Swift was regarded favourably or neutrally by nearly 80 per cent of registered voters.