Taylor Swift is speaking now.
Swift, the globally recognized pop star, entered the 2024 political arena after Tuesday night’s debate, taking to Instagram to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris over ex-President Donald Trump and telling her 283 million followers she is supporting Harris “because she fights for the rights and the causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” Swift said. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”
On Wednesday afternoon, several Trojans said they were thrilled to see the singer get involved, while others wondered if it would help Harris at all.
Holly Hodges, a senior Film and Television Production major, said she was unsure about Taylor’s political views, though she said it was not difficult to make an educated guess.
“I feel like she has a big platform, and for her to be able to outreach to people and use that as encouragement for what she believes in, she’s worked hard for it so that’s good,” Hodges said.
“[But] I hope that people take that with a grain of salt and form opinions for themselves.”
Melissa Grimaldo, a junior journalism major, said she has been a Taylor Swift fan for a while, but she was surprised by Swift’s post.
“I didn’t think she was going to say or speak about anything going on in the election,” Grimaldo said. “I think it’s what a lot of people wanted. She has a big fan base, and a lot of people follow her. I obviously think it was a good thing that she showed her support for Kamala because I think a lot of people are influenced by her and will be influenced by it.”
Swift’s endorsement came, in part, as a response to social media posts by Trump last month, who used images created by artificial intelligence to make it appear as though Swift had endorsed him.
Many Trojans were not familiar with Trump’s post, or some of the attacks directed at Swift by Republican personalities on Wednesday after the endorsement.
David Cerna, a junior performance major and a member of USC College Republicans, said he had come across some of the images online, but that he “never saw any images where [Swift] herself was coming out in support of Donald Trump.”
“I did see some images where supposedly some supporters of hers were coming out in support of Donald Trump,” Cerna said. “But, I never saw any images of her or her saying anything of the sort where she was supporting Donald Trump herself.”
U.S. Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, publicly attacked Swift Wednesday on Fox News, claiming she’s a “billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and problems of most Americans.”
In a post on X after the debate, talk show host Megyn Kelly said, “you can kiss your sales to the Republican audience goodbye, Taylor. Hope you enjoyed them while you had them…This pair - Taylor and her boyfriend Travis Kelce - are the epitome of elite snobs.”
Vance and Kelly’s comments came after X and Tesla owner Elon Musk raised eyebrows Tuesday night with a post in which he promised to give Swift a child and protect her cats with his life.” Swift had signed off her endorsement post as “A Childless Cat Lady.”
Cerna said he had heard some of the backlash against Swift, but he said her critics “are free to have their opinions on the matter.”
“I think that what I’ve heard some of them saying is that it could potentially reinforce the opinion that Kamala Harris is getting these endorsements by the big, elite people and that doesn’t necessarily resonate with the average American voter, but that’s their stance,” Cerna said.
While only time will tell if Swift’s endorsement will affect voter opinions, the endorsement appears to have had some impact already.
According to political reporter Elena Moore of National Public Radio, NPR announced that all of 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, there were 306,422 visitors to the vote.gov website referred from the link that Swift shared on Instagram Tuesday night.
Amanda Berenson, a senior cinema studies major and longtime Swiftie, expressed her gratitude for Swift’s awareness of her impact and influence.
“Given that she has a lot of young followers who might be voting for the first time now, I think it was really important for her to speak up,” Berenson said.