Tuesday, September 10, shortly before midnight. White smoke escapes from Taylor Swift’s Instagram account. Expected by Democrats, feared by Republicans, the endorsement Kamala Harris’s campaign by the singer with half a billion followers on social media has finally arrived. For months, observers and strategists have been scrutinizing her public appearances, dissecting her statements, and hyping up even the faintest signal.
So the pop star waited until the end of the Harris-Trump debate to share – or rather confirm – swifties (nickname given to Taylor Swift fans) her support for the Democratic camp for the vote on November 5. A decision taken “after much research”, underlines the singer of Shake it Offwho prefers to adopt a maieutic approach, encouraging his audience to do the same rather than encouraging them to vote for one of the two candidates.
The approach is “clever”, says Lauric Henneton, lecturer at the University of Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, who describes Taylor Swift as one of the most influential personalities across the Atlantic, on a par with Elon Musk. For L’Express, the author of the preface to the biography Taylor Swift, The Story of a Phenomenon (Hors Collection editions, 2024) explains why this position could be decisive in the outcome of the vote.
L’Express: In a few words, what does Taylor Swift represent for Americans?
Lauric Henneton: She is at the crossroads of artist and personality. people. We talk about “celebrities”, which is a transversal category. This is also the case for Donald Trump, who is at the same time a businessman, a reality TV personality, and a tabloid journalist. What distinguishes her other artists, it is probably his media surface which is considerable, boosted by his multitude of broken records.
But since the beginning of the year, she has entered a new category, where she is more or less alone: that of the artist whom political leaders distrust. In particular, the Republicans, who now fear her speeches.
Exactly, how is the Trump camp reacting to Taylor Swift’s pro-democrat positioning?
They have been relatively clever in their way of denigrating this position. One of Trump’s spokespeople in particular linked it to a classic position of the elites. They are thus part of a populist discourse, placing themselves on the side of the people and putting the Democrats in the camp of the billionaires. Classic.
20% of American voters say they are more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Taylor Swift. Can this estimate really translate to the ballot box?
This is a poll that I mention in the preface and that was published in the spring, when Joe Biden was still a candidate. It is a unique poll in which a certain number of Americans say they accept the influence of Taylor Swift on their vote. But be careful: the same poll also says that many people would not be more influenced than that, or even the opposite, so it depends on how you choose to read it.
If so, with the race between the two candidates being extremely tight, could Taylor Swift’s stance swing the vote?
We live in an era of razor-thin margins. A few votes more on one side, a few votes less on the other, can be decisive in a close race. You don’t need 20% persuasion rates. Just 2 or 3% of a given electorate in a given state can swing the vote.
So if she manages to convince just a few thousand swifties to vote for Kamala Harris and at the same time Donald Trump is running a divisive campaign that is taking away the support of a few hundred or thousands of people, it could indeed cause the Republican to lose.
In an interview given to L’ExpressSami J. Karam establishes a correlation between the Democratic vote and that of young people. Could we also weave a link between this stronger propensity of Generation Z to vote Democrat and Taylor Swift’s pro-Democratic positions?
Taylor Swift could have an influence on 18-22 year olds because that is precisely the heart of her target. This point remains an unknown, however. Firstly because this fringe of the American electorate has never voted before. Secondly because one of the problems with young people is that they remain very difficult to mobilize on election days. This is why she strongly encourages young people to register on the electoral lists.
And for good reason, before voting “for”, you have to vote, period. Then you vote for values. But in general, when you gravitate around the “swiftosphere”, you are in a pro-democrat value system.
Is Taylor Swift the most politically influential artist? Can you think of any others?
There are many who take a stand, but their speaking out has never been as decisive as Taylor Swift’s speaking out could be today. George Clooney, for example, organizes fundraisers for the Democratic Party that are generally very effective, but his commitment has never been decisive. Obama, for example, would have won without his support.
“If you are deeply homophobic, racist and sexist, you probably left the Taylor Swift ship a long time ago.”
With Taylor Swift, her media surface has reached such a point that it could swing the election. So this issue is not a fantasy of fans or journalists, it has become a political issue, among other things also because the Republican media have become concerned about its impact on a possible defeat of Donald Trump.
Does Taylor Swift bring to Democrats what Elon Musk brings to Republicans? Are the two celebrities comparable in influence?
I wouldn’t say it’s similar, but it’s broadly comparable. Elon Musk and Taylor Swift are both in an approach based on a vision of society, values, and therefore relatively disinterested. They’re not going to win fans, but probably not lose any. To be qualified, however, because it seems that some Tesla owners are getting rid of their vehicles so as not to be indirectly linked to Trump (laughter).
In addition, these are two names that have an absolutely considerable audience. One because she has 300 million followers, the other because he has a social network. Their voices carry. Whether we like it or not, because their media penetration force is incredible and goes beyond their simple “fans”. They are in a way influencers. Except that they do not promote beauty products or dream destinations, but ideas and values. In addition, they are not paid by the campaigns. On the contrary, Elon Musk, for example, finances the Republican campaign.
THE swifties could they become activists?
They already are. Since last winter, we were waiting for a signal from the top (Taylor Swift) to the bottom (her fans). But in recent months, we have seen the opposite, with a base of swifties who took over politics. For example, by creating groups on X “Swifties for Kamala” which organize zoom meetings to raise funds. There is thus a real takeover of the political object which does not come from the top but from the bottom and it is something new.
Would taking a stand in such a polarized country have negative consequences for Taylor Swift?
In his documentary [NDLR : Taylor Swift : Miss America sorti en 2020 sur Netflix]her father advised her not to take a position because she would risk losing part of her audience. A warning that she decided not to follow. She suffered from not taking a position in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2016, and in 2018 she felt the need to speak out. Since then, her positions have been relatively well-known. The question was therefore not whether she would support Kamala Harris but when.
Personally, I thought she would wait until October to make her statement. But it seems that Trump’s manipulation of her image, which used artificial intelligence, has hastened this position. As when she took a position in 2018 to support the Democratic candidates in the congressional elections. She also wanted to speak out to cut short the rumors of the swifties for trump. A fantasy of the Trumpian right. In 2016, she had not spoken out, and the neo-Nazi fringe of the extreme right had made her their idol.
Can we question the fact that the outcome of the vote could depend on the positioning of one and the same person?
She takes a stand, yes, but her Instagram post remains very nuanced. Above all, it is very well-argued, reasoned and mature. She explains the path of her reasoning and encourages her audience to get informed. And her message is particularly useful on a civic level. We don’t say what to do, but how to achieve it. She is not in something that is visceral, of the order of frustration, anger, emotion. It is very cold and very far from what we see a lot today in political rhetoric which is essentially based on emotions, because emotions are mobilizing. Her choices are always justified by values: protection of sexual minorities, the right to abortion… If you are deeply homophobic, racist and sexist, you have probably left the Taylor Swift ship a long time ago.
Finally, isn’t the credibility given to the positions taken by celebrities such as Taylor Swift a consequence of that given more generally to freedom of expression?
It is certainly a typically American habit, but we often forget that This also happened in France. In the 1970s, there was a whole movement of artists in support of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Brigitte Bardot, for example, wore T-shirts with the words “Giscard à la barre”. Daniel Balavoine attacked Mitterrand, while Renaud had called for support for him. Afterwards, it became something rarer, because it cost some people their careers. When Yannick Noah committed to Hollande, people held a grudge against him. Not to mention Faudel [NDLR : qui s’était engagé pour Nicolas Sarkozy en 2007]which completely burned out.