Topline
Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris last week made little impact on voters, according to an ABC News and Ipsos poll—but former President Donald Trump lashed out against the pop star Sunday, posting “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” on his social media platform.
More than 80% of respondents said Swift’s endorsement made no difference, and 13% were less likely … [+]
Key Facts
Swift’s endorsement drove hundreds of thousands of people to a federal voter registration site, but the poll—which was released Sunday morning and was the first major poll to get at Swift’s impact—found 81% of respondents said the endorsement made no difference in their likelihood of voting for Harris.
Only 6% said it made them more likely to vote Harris, while 13% said it made them less likely to—though ABC News noted that those who responded negatively to the question were “overwhelmingly Trump supporters” (Forbes has reached out to ABC News and Ipsos for more data).
But the poll found Swift’s endorsement didn’t even help Harris much in the expected key demographic: Just 8% of women under 30 said they were more likely to support Harris, 13% said they were less likely and 78% said it made no difference.
The poll had 3,276 adult respondents, was conducted online from Sept. 11 to 13 and had a margin of error of about two points.
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Chief Critic
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday morning. Trump dismissed Swift’s endorsement of Harris shortly after the debate, saying he was not a fan of hers and adding she was a “very liberal person” who “seems to always endorse a Democrat and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” Vance, also dismissed the endorsement, saying he didn’t think Americans would be influenced by a “billionaire celebrity” who he accused of being “disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.”
Do Celebrity Endorsements Matter?
It’s not quite clear how much, if at all, celebrity endorsements can sway an election. The New York Times cited a 2016 study that found endorsements like Swift’s largely only matter in primary elections when voters are choosing between ideologically similar options. But an author of a study released in August from Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance told CNN celebrity endorsements can make a difference by creating “a culture around participation, making it fun and making it something you should care about doing.” November’s election is expected to be extremely close, and if Swift’s endorsement leads to younger voters—who are historically more likely to vote Democratic but less likely to vote in the first place—registering and voting, it could sway the results in Harris’ favor. Still, the Times noted it would be hard to track it back to Swift’s endorsement, which came minutes after Harris and Trump’s debate.
Key Background
Swift’s endorsement of Harris was long awaited by fans and Harris supporters, who anticipated it following the billionaire pop star’s 2020 endorsement of President Joe Biden over Trump. Swift largely stayed out of politics for most of her career, but said in her 2020 documentary “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” she felt differently about voicing her political opinions in light of what has happened following Trump’s 2016 election. In her endorsement of Harris, Swift praised the vice president as a “steady-handed, gifted leader,” said her running mate selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz affirmed the decision to endorse and signed it “Childless Cat Lady”—taking a jab at Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who previously used the term to describe Democrats. Swift had previously criticized Trump’s leadership, and also said his use of artificially-generated photos of her endorsing him contributed to her decision to vote for Harris.
Big Number
405,999. That’s how many visitors were directed to federal registration help site vote.gov from the unique link Swift posted alongside her endorsement encouraging people to register to vote. That number does not equate to people who actually registered to vote—just to people who clicked the link to find out more—but it far exceeds the site’s daily visitor average, which was about 30,000 earlier in the month.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Swift to have a net worth of about $1.3 billion. She became a billionaire late last year in large part due to the success of her worldwide Eras Tour, which resumes after its break in October in Miami.
Tangent
Swift is the latest celebrity to throw her support behind a candidate. George Clooney, Martha Stewart and a litany of other celebrities have backed Harris, while Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock have vocally backed Trump.
