As the 2024 presidential approaches, President Joe Biden is hoping to clinch a very high-profile endorsement: Taylor Swift.
It’s no secret that the 34-year-old singer wields a lot of power – in different spheres, no less.
Her Eras tour set a record for the highest-grossing music tour of all time. She has reportedly added $330m in brand value to the NFL since she began attending football games to watch her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. And she endorsed Mr Biden in 2020 – and drove her supporters via an Instagram post to register to vote.
Now, Mr Biden is seeking Swift’s coveted endorsement again. His campaign is considering sending the president to one of the concerts on her Eras tour, the New York Times reported. While this idea was “a bit in jest,” the outlet also noted that the ‘Taylor Swift strategy’ has been brought up so many times that the Biden campaign has warned job applicants to stop suggesting it.
California governor Gavin Newsom previously acknowledged the singer’s sway in politics.
“Taylor Swift stands tall and unique,” Mr Newsom said in September. “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.”
Mr Biden is likely to face Donald Trump in a repeat of their 2020 matchup. Mr Trump has already been victorious in two GOP races: the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary.
The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign has made reproductive rights a central focus of its 2024 campaign, perhaps a way to Americans who are enraged by the current state of affairs since Roe was overturned and as states continue to restrict reproductive freedoms.
The campaign has also framed itself in opposition to Mr Trump.
After the first primary races, Biden’s campaign communications director Michael Tyler said the Biden-Harris campaign is now “laser focused” on the imminent Biden-Trump matchup, writing off Nikki Haley as future competition.
The campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, outlined the difference in the two frontrunners’ campaign messaging: “Donald Trump is running a campaign of revenge and retribution that threatens American democracy and our fundamental freedoms. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are running to move the country forward and make life better for working people.”
South Carolina Democrat Rep James Clyburn told the New York Times that the campaign should be trying to find ways to get voters excited to vote for Mr Biden – not just serve the anti-Trump message. He told the outlet that in 2020, “people were voting against Trump. Our job this time is to convince people to vote for Biden”.
“We just can’t rely on this anti-Trump stuff because Trump’s supporters are going to turn out big, because they are emotionally tied to Trump,” he said. “We’ve got to get our voters emotionally tied to Biden.”
Perhaps Taylor Swift is part of that solution.
