Taylor Swift: Rösta på den som representerar dig

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has demonstrated a significant political influence. It has been examined in an extensive body of reporting and analysis in the United States, with political journalists distinguishing her from other music artists as an influential personality and topic of debate in American politics. Elsewhere, Swift has inspired and been acknowledged by politicians from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, Belize, the United Kingdom and the European Union amongst other jurisdictions. Swift has used her fame to incite political action, assisted by a highly successful career. She was initially apolitical, avoiding commenting on political issues due to the 2003 Dixie Chicks controversy. However, after the election of Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. president, Swift revealed her political stance for the first time in 2018; she endorsed Democratic politicians Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections in Tennessee, her home state, via a highly publicized Instagram post. Aligned with liberalism, Swift is pro-choice and an advocate of gender equality and LGBT rights and a vocal critic of racism, white supremacy, police brutality, sexism and homophobia. She criticized Trump's administration and Republican politician Marsha Blackburn, a senator representing Tennessee. She advocated for the Equality Act, the creation of Juneteenth as a national holiday, and the removal of Confederate statues in Tennessee and endorsed Democrat Joe Biden's successful bid in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. A subject of political criticism, Swift has been widely censured by the right-wing, Trump's supporters, and the conservative public in general for her perceived "woke" liberal views. In the early 2010s, some neo-Nazis theorized that Swift is their "Aryan" figure in the media, citing her political silence. After her open support to Democrats, conservative media outlets alleged she is a "Pentagon psy-op" of the Democrat-led U.S. government. Some liberal commentators have also criticized Swift, claiming her political activism is either inadequate or performative. Nevertheless, Swift has caused unprecedented increases in voter registrations and inspired a variety of legislations, dubbed "the Taylor Swift effect". Music critics have also described some of her songs, such as "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince" (2019) and "Only the Young" (2020), as political protest songs. According to The Times, though Swift is left-aligned, a portion of the right wing still "covet" her, making her a unifying entity that could help bridge the political divide of the U.S. by drawing various demographics to her cause. Hence, publications describe her as an anomaly in American culture. Various surveys have reported Swift's approval ratings to be higher than those of Biden and Trump, whereas her fans, called Swifties, are considered a key voting bloc. Journalists have opined that Swift could vastly influence the outcomes of the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election.