The Swifties for Kamala group is volunteer-led and independent of the Harris campaign, but they have been in touch.
The conversations are “surprisingly more casual than you would expect”, Ms Kim tells me. They aren’t entirely about the online world either – they’re about translating that into real-world action.
“They’re [the campaign] helping facilitate things like volunteer sign-ups and helping us coordinate volunteer training,” Ms Kim says. Not just for in-person canvassing but also text and phone banking.
“We can make requests. We really wanted a photo of Doug [Kamala’s husband] standing behind Kamala so we could do the like ‘he lets her bejewelled’ joke.”
The BBC reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not get a response.
The online world is a key battleground for both campaigns, and memes and videos from supporters that feel more authentic than paid-for ads could be effective at reaching younger, disengaged voters.
The army of Swifties could also be a way for the Harris campaign to go head-to-head with Donald Trump’s already very active base of supporters online. They operate a bit like a fandom too, and have proved effective at pushing out endless memes and pictures for the former president. Endorsements from – for example – tech boss Elon Musk have also sent Musk’s devoted army of followers on X Trump’s way too.
All of that keeps Donald Trump at the top of some social media feeds. But that can backfire.
In one meme, which the former president shared on social media, an AI generated image of Swift endorsed Trump.
In her Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris, Taylor Swift specifically cited misleading images of her supporting Trump as a reason to speak now.
“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth,” she said in her post, that was liked more than 10.7m times.
Although Swift’s endorsement specifically told her fans “your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make”, Swifties for Kamala is hoping that call to vote will translate into votes for Harris.
Ms Kim says the group didn’t know the endorsement was coming, but had planned for it anyway, hoping it would yield a wave of new volunteers.
Since the post, it’s been “absolutely madness in the best way”, she says.
According to Ms Kim they’ve seen a spike in voter registration activity and a “huge boost on social media” because of the endorsement. She also says it’s been a “huge morale” boost for the Swifties involved in the group.
Source link
