Joe Biden’s wildest dream: Taylor Swift’s 2024 election endorsement
The US President might be going out of style with young voters but he has a plan to shake it off ahead of an expected election battle against Donald Trump.
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Joe Biden has a plan to get his re-election campaign out of the woods. Is Donald Trump ready for it?
The President’s team is plotting to secure the endorsement of Taylor Swift, according to the New York Times, with the pop icon considered crucial to improving the 81-year-old’s popularity among young American voters.
There is even talk that Mr Biden could appear on Swift’s blockbuster Eras Tour – the biggest concert tour of all time – which is set to return to the US in the weeks before November’s presidential election.
Swift is due to play three shows in October in Florida, the adopted home state of Mr Trump, the former president who she has previously accused of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism”.
The superstar singer – who was recently named Time’s Person of the Year and is among the world’s most famous people – endorsed Mr Biden ahead of his 2020 election victory over Mr Trump.
New polling commissioned by Newsweek reveals her endorsement could be even more influential this year, with 18 per cent of voters saying they would be more likely or significantly more likely to vote for a candidate who Swift had chosen to support.
“She’s influenced popular culture, sports, the economics of entire regions of the US,” communications consultant James Haggerty told Newsweek.
“So why not politics and elections?”
Last September, on America’s national voter registration day, Swift encouraged her 272 million Instagram followers to register to vote.
“I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are,” she said.
In response, more than 35,000 new registrations were recorded, 23 per cent higher than the previous year. The non-profit Vote.org website reported a 1226 per cent jump in participation in the hour after Swift’s Instagram post.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a key supporter of Mr Biden who has been positioning for his own presidential ran, has urged Swift to support the President’s 2024 campaign.
“Taylor Swift stands tall and unique,” he said last year.
“What she was able to accomplish just in getting young people activated to consider that they have a voice and that they should have a choice in the next election, I think, is profoundly powerful.”
But some conservatives have rebelled against Swift, particularly as her relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce has dominated the headlines as his Kansas City Chiefs have won their way through to the Super Bowl next month.
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is now campaigning for Mr Trump, posted a sarcastic conspiracy theory about Swift after The New York Times reported that Mr Biden’s campaign was seeking her support.
“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” he said.
“And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next eight months.”
Mr Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller said of Swift’s potential endorsement of the president that he had “no plans for inflation, immigration, global conflict, crime or anything else”.
“Just electric vehicle mandates, weaponising the justice system and hoping Taylor Swift looks at him the way she looks at Travis Kelce,” he said.
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Originally published as Joe Biden’s wildest dream: Taylor Swift’s 2024 election endorsement