Pop singer Taylor Swift‘s recent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris had little impact on potential voters, according to a new poll.
Swift told her fan base on Tuesday night that she’d be voting for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, in November’s election.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” she told her 284 million Instagram followers just after the first presidential debate against Harris and former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, wrapped up.
While Swift has been known to have a lot of reach, especially when it comes to getting fans to register to vote, her endorsement didn’t seem to sway the American public in the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll that was published on Sunday.
The survey conducted from September 11-13 found that just 6 percent of U.S. adults said Swift’s endorsement of Harris makes them more likely to vote for her. Meanwhile, 13 percent said it makes them less likely to support Harris, although this group of respondents was overwhelming Trump supporters. In addition, 81 percent said Swift’s endorsement makes no difference to them.
Newsweek reached out to Harris and Trump’s campaigns via email for comment on late Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, 58 percent of respondents said Harris won the ABC News debate against Trump in Philadelphia compared to 36 percent who said the former president was the victor.
More Americans had a better view of Harris after the debate as well, with 37 percent saying the debate made them have a more favorable opinion of her and 23 percent saying it made them view her less favorably.
Meanwhile, 30 percent said they had a less favorable view of Trump after the debate compared to 17 percent who said they had a more favorable opinion.
Despite all this positive buzz around Harris, voter preferences haven’t changed meaningfully. It’s still a close race with 51 percent of respondents saying they’d support Harris and 46 percent saying they are for Trump. An ABC News/Ipsos poll taken before the debate had the race at 50 percent Harris to 46 percent Trump.
The poll surveyed 3,276 adults including 29 percent who identified as Democrat, 29 percent who identified as Republican and 30 percent who identified as independent. The margin of error of this sample was 2 percentage points.
What Did Swift Say in Her Endorsement?
Swift called Harris “a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” adding, “I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate [Minnesota Governor Walz], who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF [in vitro fertilization], and a woman’s right to her own body for decades” in her Tuesday night post.
The singer encouraged her fans to do their own research about the candidates and make their choice.
“I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story,” she wrote.
Swift endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020. Meanwhile, in September 2023, she encouraged her Instagram followers to register to vote, directing them to Vote.org. The nonpartisan nonprofit organization recorded over 35,000 registrations generated from Swift’s post.
Swift’s endorsement post for Harris, which included a link to vote.gov where people can register to vote got nearly 406,000 clicks, a spokesperson for the General Services Administration told Forbes on Thursday.
How Are the Candidates Doing Overall?
According to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, Harris is ahead of Trump by 2.6 points with their national polling averages on Sunday at 48 percent and 45.4 percent, respectively.
This is only a 0.1 difference from Tuesday and both candidates actually went slightly down in the polls since then. On Tuesday, Harris was leading Trump by 2.5 points (48.2 to 45.8 percent).
Meanwhile, polling analyst Nate Silver‘s presidential model had Harris ahead of Trump by 2.4 points (48.6 to 46.2 percent) on Saturday, with Trump actually gaining 0.6 points from last week’s polling averages.
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