The right's unhealthy obsession with Taylor Swift has arrived critical mass in the lead-up to this weekend's Super Bowl showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
We will leave aside the strategic virtue of alienating a public figure who alone can break the internet and focus instead on how Swift should seek revenge. And by the way, if you think she doesn't understand a thing or two about revenge, she just listens.”Reputation” or ask Scooter braun either David Müller.
Taylor commands an army of social networks: 280 million followers on instagram95.1 million in x23.9 million in Tik Tok80 million in Facebook and 56.3 million in Youtube. In comparison, Donald Trump has 23.7 million followers in the 'gram87.4 million in x24.5 million in Facebookand 2.8 million in Youtube.
The numbers speak for themselves. And there is more. TO survey carried out Last year, the Morning Consult found that Swift's avid fans are suburban, Democratic, and, unsurprisingly, female. The majority are between 18 and 39 years old. In the post-Dobbs political landscape, these are among the demographics President Biden needs most to achieve a victory in November.
So while the obvious response to the MAGA hysteria might be to endorse Biden, something the president's team is expecting will happen – not Swift's best move. She backed up Biden in 2020. Another endorsement will not change the situation.
Instead, the most effective thing Taylor Swift could do to influence the presidential election is to use her celebrity, exposure, and platforms to get her army of Swifties to register to vote.
TO recent survey A study by the Harvard Institute of Politics found that after record turnout in the 2020 election, only half of 18- to 29-year-olds who voted at the time plan to participate in the 2024 election. survey carried out NBC News showed young voters angry at Biden. To USA Today/Suffolk University survey had Biden loses the youth vote to Trump.
If this election is going to be as close as the polls and prognosticators would have us believe, activating Swift's army of fans could make all the difference. Without openly endorsing a candidate, she could launch her own voter registration effort and send the right-wing MAGA sphere into meltdown mode.
Imagine if Swift announced even a handful of relatively modest acoustic concerts in swing states (Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) where the price of admission was proof that you were registered to vote. Voter registration booths will be set up in front of the venue. The only problem would be dealing with the crowds.
In September, Swift's voter registration superpower was revealed. in a instagram post, directed his followers to the nonpartisan, nonprofit website Vote.org, which reported an increase of 35,000 new registrations. In the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, a post urging his followers Registering to vote was linked to 100,000 new voter registrations in the 18-29 demographic. If this is the kind of engagement you generated from individual posts, imagine the impact of a tour of swing states in support of voter registration.
Trump's MAGA army has made a critical mistake by waging open war against Taylor Swift. You might as well choose to ignore them. To stay above the fray. Spend 2024 filling stadiums around the world through the Eras Tour. Let the conspiracy theorists keep pretending.
If I were Taylor Swift, I wouldn't dignify the MAGA world with a response or reaction anytime soon. Instead, I would let the campaigns develop. Then, when fall comes, when it would matter most, when MAGA has moved on, when everyone has forgotten the madness of the last few weeks, in some strategic states that will decide the next election, maybe, just maybe, Swift should take it out. revenge.
Kurt Bardella is a contributing writer for Opinion. @KurtBardella
