JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Taylor Swift has entered her 2024 election era. Just after the debate ended, Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Instagram, where Swift has more than 280 million followers. Swift, who is on her worldwide Eras tour, may help engage key voting groups that Harris needs to attract. We're joined now by NPR's Elena Moore. Hi, there.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: Elena, as any good Swiftie knows, Taylor Swift is not a celeb who weighs in on politics terribly often, so tell us what she had to say.
MOORE: Well, the news broke right after the debate, while I was still in the spin room, so obviously, I had to stay here in Philadelphia a little longer since Pennsylvania is Taylor Swift's home state. I don't have to tell you that. You know, she posted a photo, as you mentioned, on Instagram, holding one of her cats, and it had a pretty lengthy caption. She said she watched the debate and did her research, and Harris is the candidate for her. And she signed it as, quote, Childless Cat Lady, which is a jab at Republican vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance's past comments on women with no children.
SUMMERS: That is what Swift had to say, but what did you hear from the candidates? How did they react?
MOORE: Well, just 20 minutes after the endorsement, the Harris campaign started selling friendship bracelets, which is a nod at a trend that we've been seeing at Swift's concerts. And they've already sold out, Juana, so safe to say the campaign is excited.
SUMMERS: I bet.
MOORE: Harris's running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, did respond last night to the news during an interview with MSNBC.
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TIM WALZ: I am incredibly grateful, first of all, to Taylor Swift. I say that also as a cat owner - a fellow cat owner.
MOORE: Former president Donald Trump also reacted to the news. Here he is calling in to Fox News this morning.
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DONALD TRUMP: 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.
MOORE: And Swift and Trump have sparred in the past, so fair to say they have some bad blood.
SUMMERS: I see what you did there. All right.
MOORE: (Imitating rimshot).
SUMMERS: (Laughter) Elena, I mean, this has been huge news all day - tons of people talking about it. I've seen it all over social media. But the big question here is - do celebrity endorsements of politicians or political causes - do they actually matter?
MOORE: Well, in Swift's post, she did specifically mention first-time voters, urging them to register to vote and vote early. And in her Instagram story, she provided a link to vote.gov, which is, you know, a website with a lot of that information. I reached out to vote.gov, and a spokesperson for the U.S. General Services Administration told me that, as of 11 a.m. Eastern today, there have been more than 306,000 visitors to the website referred from Swift's link - you know, her special link that she posted.
But I think, you know, to the bigger question - yeah, celebrity endorsements often don't move the needle. But Swift does have a huge following, especially among younger people. You know, Gen Z and millennial voters have deep ties to Taylor Swift. They've known her for so much of their lives, you know? And so yeah, she might be able to reach folks that Harris just can't in the same way.
SUMMERS: So Elena, what are you going to be watching from here when it comes to this big Taylor Swift endorsement?
MOORE: I mean, Democrats keep talking about boosting momentum, which can really feel like an abstract concept. But the Swiftie community is definitely one to watch. I mean, even before Swift endorsed, an unaffiliated group formed called Swifties for Kamala, and I was on their organizing call a few weeks back, where they walked through different ways to get involved. So Swift's brand has definitely taken on a life of its own.
SUMMERS: NPR political reporter Elena Moore - Elena, thanks.
MOORE: Thanks, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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