Taylor Swift's fans take on politics in style!
There was a sheer demonstration of Taylor Swift’s indomitable star power, when she encouraged her fans to register their vote last fall. Her plea immediately saw 35,000 new registrations. For the first time in 2018, the popstar endorsed the Democratic opponent of far-right US Senator Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee. Following to that, She had even spoken out for the legal right to the abortion and LGBTQ rights. Now, even without popstar’s direct presence, her fans raised record funds for Kamala Harris, the democrat nominee for US presidential race.
Founded by 22-year-old Emerald Medrano, with a quarter million followers across social media platforms, the ‘Swifties for Kamala’ group has received significant traction in last couple of weeks. The recent virtual rally was attended over 27,000 viewers, which raised around $100,000 donations for Kamala Harris' campaign. Most of the donations ranged from $13 to $19.89.
Carole King praised Taylor Swift as her “musical/songwriting granddaughter” at the Swifties for Kamala event, which raised over $100,000 in donations.
— Taylor Swift Charts (@chartstswift) August 28, 2024
She also sang “Shake It Off” during the rally. pic.twitter.com/Fpp9BSlAMI
(Credit - @chartstswift X handle)
The star-studded 2-hour long virtual rally featured singer Carole King and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
The entertaining part of the meet came when King, who described Taylor Swift as her “musical and songwriting granddaughter” – sang her favorite song, “Shake It Off.” King also discussed her political activism: “I’ve been a volunteer, I’ve been doorknocker, even as a famous person.”
You just cannot ignore the role of technology in election. John F. Kennedy, for the first time appeared in TV presidential debate to beat Richard Nixon in 1960. Let's take example of a recent scenario; when social media was on the rise, Barack Obama leveraged it to the fullest and received millions of dollars donations. In an era of Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), TikTok, one defining moment is zoom rally. Thousands of attendees are coming to one platform in support of Democrat’s presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The supporters of Kamala Harris broke all the records. It started with a group called ‘Win With Black Women’ promoting one of its daily scheduled Sunday evening Zoom calls on MSNBC. Within three hours, the organizers raised over $1.6 million. This was followed by ‘White Women Answer the Call’ with 164,000 attendees over several hours, raising over $11 million.
(Credit - @ilyseh X handle)
Later, ‘White Dudes for Harris’ saw an attendance of 60,000 people who helped raising over $4 million.
Some other zoom meetups that gathered huge in numbers are ‘Disabled Voters for Harris’, ‘Cat Ladies for Harris’.
The supporters of Kamala Harris have already announced that they will host more such Zoom rallies before November’s vote.
Considering the huge competition, both Democratic party and Republicans have long wanted Taylor Swift’s support. The reality is, the billionaire popstar hasn't publicly endorsed any of the candidates yet.
Previously, Taylor Swift has shown supports for Democrats. During 2020 election, the singer supported President Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has openly criticised Donald Trump in a famous 2020 documentary.
(Credit - @ArtCandee X handle)
Just last week, former US President and the Republican nominee for this year, Donald Trump shared fake images of popstar Taylor Swift supporting him in the elections.
In the viral post, Taylor Swift was seen in red, white and blue dress. The caption reads "Taylor Swift Wants You To Vote For Donald Trump." "I accept!" Trump wrote.
Some unique features of these meets are casual dressing and unscripted speeches, increasing the sense of authenticity. Some are attending from the garrage, some are facing terrible light issue or even interruption by pets. The vibe and mood of those virtual meetups are optimistic and joyful.
