Opinion | Taylor Swift has the right to endorse Kamala Harris

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, Taylor Swift posted on her Instagram account publicly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election. Since then, she has received large amounts of backlash and hate from the public and even from Harris’s opponent Donald Trump. This is not the first time that Swift has been persecuted for publicly speaking about her political opinions.

Swift is one of the most well-known, if not the absolute most-known, singer in the world. She has released 243 songs spanning 11 original studio albums, four re-recorded albums, five extended plays and four live albums. Due to how large of a public figure she is, she is always in the eye of the news and media. While many people idolize and love Swift, there are many who cannot stand her and persecute her for anything and everything. This includes accusing her of being pregnant while on stage, telling her that Kanye West made her famous — he didn’t but he claimed so in his song ‘Famous’ in 2016 — and more recently, telling her she does not have a right to her political opinion on social media, which originally started after Swift began talking about her political stance in 2016.

Previously, Swift shared her political views on her social media during the 2016 Presidential Election, for the first time. Swift explained how she would never comment on her political views views before then, because she was told she would end up like the Dixie Chicks — now known as just the Chicks. The Chicks are famously known for their hit country songs and moxie, but when they publicly criticized President George W. Bush and boycotted the Iraq War, they received a tremendous amount of backlash. This led to their cancellation by the public, and they lost a large majority of their fans and sponsors. Since then, Swift and many other artists, specifically women, were now under the impression that their political opinions were not to be shared, in fear of being ousted from the industry and ending up like the Chicks.

However, Swift explained during the 2016 presidential race that she felt that she needed to educate the public and tell people to register to vote. Since that initial post, Swift has been known for speaking up for new voter registration and for endorsing candidates on her social media. Yet no matter how many times she makes her opinion known, it is still received with an enormous amount of backlash from the public.

Most recently, Swift is quoted endorsing Kamala Harris for president, saying in her Instagram post, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” And even signing off with an iconic tagline, “With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childness Cat Lady.” This post was met by people all over social media, and in public, explaining how she should not be using her platform in this manner and that she essentially does not have a right to her own opinion, neither of which is true.

Many argue that Swift is doing the correct thing by using her platform in this manner due to how large of an audience she has. She has a total of 284 million followers on Instagram alone, all of whom are being educated by the material Swift posts. Swift has the ability to use her platform as a way to educate people on how to register to vote, how to do research and choose who to vote for as well as share her personal opinion. By doing this, she is arguably able to make a large impact due to her following and how many people are now educated on how to register to vote. Statistics show the impact Swift made, starting from her first Instagram post urging people to register to vote, when Vote.org data showed how almost 65,000 young Americans registered to vote in the 24 hours following what CBS called “the singer-songwriter’s social media rallying cry.” I will also argue that no matter how large of a star Taylor Swift is, she is still a person entitled to her own opinion and her own voice in sharing that opinion. No matter if artists do or do not share their political opinions on social media, they are likely to receive backlash.

Following Swift’s post, fellow singer-songwriter Chappell Roan received backlash for not endorsing a candidate. Roan explained to the public that she was not endorsing Harris but that she was not endorsing Trump either, and that the main thing that people should be doing is registering to vote. This was met with the public backlash criticizing Roan, saying that she was wrong not to endorse a candidate, twisting her words from a Rolling Stones interview where she appeared to equate the two candidates out of context. Roan was forced to explain in a TikTok on Sept. 25 that she cannot put her name completely behind a candidate due to her disagreeing with points on both parties.

Due to the amount of backlash and lies being spread about what she said in the past and who she was voting for, she explained that the best of the two candidates was Kamala Harris, and that is who she will be voting for. Roan was essentially forced by the hate to make a post explaining her political views and who she would be voting for in the election. It is inhumane to force a public figure to speak on simply because they are a public figure.

No matter if public figures speak on their political views or not, they are met with tremendous hate and backlash, which is simply not okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and how they share that opinion, no matter how famous they are.

Katie Jones mostly writes about pop culture, entertainment, and social justice. Write to her at kaj.200@pitt.edu