Taylor Swifting the Midterm Elections
Welcome back to the pre-midterm edition of the #BlogBlogProject, where I post the views and observations of my Political Science, Communication, and Public Policy students at the University of Delaware. The midterm elections are mere hours away, and many pundits are speculating the role that young people will play in voter turnout. Kaitlin Christoff, a senior Political Science major with minors in Political Communication and Women & Gender Studies, reflected on the impact that pop-star Taylor Swift may have had on a generation of young voters. Read her blog, rated as Top Blog of the Week by her peers, below.
And if you are looking for resources to view your ballot in advance of Election Day, see https://ballotpedia.org/ or https://www.ballotready.org/ for a personalized ballot. Vote Nov. 6!
~ Dr. Hoffman
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A few weeks ago, something happened in politics that has never happened before: Taylor Swift took a political stance. Swift has been notoriously apolitical in her long career, so her fans were surprised when she shared a message on her Instagram (which boasts 112 million followers) urging her fans to register to vote and endorsing two Democratic candidates. As with anything the pop star does, people had a lot of opinions on the subject. Some thought it was great, such as the Director of Communications for Vote.org, while others thought she should “shut up and sing.” Even the President (bizarrely) added that he likes her music about “25 percent less now.” Regardless of your opinions on Taylor Swift or her opinions, Vote.org did report a spike of almost 65,000 voter registrations in the 24-hour period following her post.
I think that the backlash to Swift’s post speaks to a larger issue within American politics, and society more generally. We don’t take young people, especially women, and their views seriously. Following her post, beyond the backlash typical of any celebrity getting political, many politicians and public figures questioned what she could possibly know about politics. Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee tweeted, “So [Taylor Swift] has every right to be political but it won’t impact election unless we allow 13 yr old girls to vote. Still with #MarshaBlackburn.” Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative organization, Turning Point USA, stated that Taylor Swift “has no idea what [she] is talking about.” There are myriad other examples with similar sentiments. This is hardly a new phenomenon; we saw similar responses to the Parkland students.
In my National Agenda class class and in the readings from Aldrich, et al., we have discussed voter turnout and how important engagement is for young people. In Chapter Four, Aldrich, and colleagues discuss that young people are the least likely to vote. One possible explanation cited in the book is that is that it is “life-changing events” that cause people to become more active citizens. While this could be true, perhaps the condescension often faced by young citizens is a factor.
Columnist — and National Agenda guest speaker, Lauren Duca — created her Teen Vogue Column, “Thigh High Politics,” based on this premise that young people can care about pop music and celebrity gossip, while also being deeply invested in politics and the future of this country. When Duca came to UD in September, she discussed her struggle to be taken seriously in politics as a former fashion columnist, in the context of her infamous Tucker Carlson interview. When the fact that young people do not vote in high numbers is coupled with the idea that — if young people discuss politics, they will not be taken seriously — it is not hard to figure out why a lot of young people feel ambivalent about politics. If we want to boost turnout among voters in the upcoming midterms, more celebrities with young fan bases should be encouraging registration.
This resonates with me because I am politically active and have voted in every election that I have been eligible to vote in, but I also am intensely interested in pop culture. I know what it is like to have older relatives feel comfortable asking me who a random celebrity is, while dismissing any political knowledge I may have. The current political culture is so intertwined with popular culture, that I would argue that maybe millennials are more adept at sorting through it than older generations. If people want to attack Swift’s beliefs, that is fine. She knows she is a major player in our culture and was surely expecting a response. If she wanted to make fewer waves, she could have made her post solely about voter registration. I do not, however, think it is fair to undermine her potential knowledge of politics because people do not agree with her beliefs. I also think it is unfair to underestimate her simply because her fan base trends younger and female. We need young people to vote and get involved. If it takes a previously apolitical pop star to get them to turn out, I support it.
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This blog was written by University of Delaware senior Kaitlin Christof, a major in Political Science with minors in Political Communication and Women & Gender Studies. It was written as an assignment for the National Agenda “Midterm Matters” course.
