It’s worth mentioning that country music was Swift’s major early influence, so much so that her family moved to Nashville (actually, to a small town just outside of it) when she was just 14 to help her break into the country music scene. She’s now wealthy enough to own homes all over the country, but her primary residence and cultural home is still Nashville.
Anyway, I don’t know how big this endorsement is going to be, but it certainly ought to help get out the youth vote. And it’s a wonderful F.U. to Trump who falsely claimed she had endorsed him, and to Vance with the priceless “childless cat lady” signoff. It makes the two of them look like the out-of-touch backward troglodytes that they are. Somehow the timing coming immediately after Harris trounced Trump in the debate seems perfect. I imagine that last night, overall, resulted in a certain amount of flying ketchup in the Trump domicile!
Probably not very. The “roots” of a rich kid growing up privileged don’t tend to resonate with the common folk. And she moved to Nashville because of her music career when she was 13 or 14.
Her father was a stockbroker but I wouldn’t say her childhood was especially “privileged” – more like middle class. She grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania before moving to Nashville. She was privileged only in the sense that her parents actively helped her pursue a music career. But I agree that her Pennsylvania childhood is irrelevant and probably unknown to most folks.
Don’t make her out to be a farmer. Her father bought a nice house on a big piece of property off of a client then later moved to a very nice house that recently sold for $1 million. And they had a summer home in Stone Harbor. Stone Harbor is one of my favorite towns on the Jersey Shore that is definitely in the “I wish I was rich enough to live there” category. Currently Stone Harbor has the highest median house price in the state. $4.2 million. I know housing prices aren’t the same as they were 20 years ago but Stone Harbor was a rich people town my entire life.
She didn’t have a Trumpian upbringing but by any measure she was privileged. If they were middle class it was in the very upper reaches of the upper middle class.
The only point is the one minor question I was answering which was “How strong do her Pennsylvania roots hold up these days?” To which I replied “Probably not very.” Try not to read any more into it.
Plenty of people here don’t like Springsteen but he certainly is of the state. He really did have the blue collar background he portrayed. Even after becoming fabulously wealthy he never moved out of the state and still lives here. Every so often there is a picture posted of him in a local deli taking a picture with a fan.
The question was whether her Pennsylvania roots could help in that important battleground state. I personally don’t think it will. At least no more than her influence in any other state for the reasons I gave. She didn’t have the family background that resonates with average voters and she moved away at a young age. And she wears Kansas City Chiefs gear at football games. Maybe if she stayed loyal to the Eagles…
Swift’s endorsement might help overall. It’s not going to hurt. I just don’t see it helping more in Pennsylvania than anywhere else.
Here’s a recent article about Bruce stopping at a local pizza place. Just an example of how he has maintained a deep connection to the area. Swift doesn’t have that connection to Pennsylvania, a place she moved away from 20 years ago.
I think many in this thread are making an error in categorization. Bruce Springsteen has fans. Taylor Swift has Swifties.
Through her songwriting, her concerts, her social media presence, her outreach to fans and charities, she has bonded with a very large cohort that covers several generations (she’s been performing professionally for almost twenty years).
People who are wondering if her endorsement (and follow through) might have some effect in Pennsylvania are missing the sheer size and involvement of her fanbase in Pennsylvania (native daughter or not) and beyond that the real implications of what the potential effect could be nationwide.
Well said. The word “superstar” has been much abused, as it’s been applied to almost anyone who’s more or less famous. But Taylor Swift is someone who genuinely deserves the term. I certainly hope that her influence in politics is commensurate with her stature in the music culture.
Did any of the Swifties actually think she was going to vote for Trump? She endorsed Biden in 2020. I’m glad to see her being vocal about it again but there was little doubt where she was going to land.