![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/6c1d\/live\/7e2c27d0-6fed-11ef-b634-1dba200320b8.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nTaylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president moments after the end of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
The pop star made her announcement in an Instagram post signed as “Childless Cat Lady” – a reference to comments by Trump’s running mate JD Vance.<\/p>\n
Her post, breaking her silence on the 2024 vote, explained: “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”<\/p>\n
Swift, who also backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020, went on to call Harris a “steady-handed, gifted leader”.<\/p>\n
She added: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”<\/p>\n
Swift’s text was accompanied by a photo of her with a cat. Her “Childless Cat Lady” comment was a nod to remarks made in 2021 by Vance, who is Trump’s candidate for vice-president.<\/p>\n
Vance, the Ohio senator, has faced a backlash for a clip in which he called several prominent Democrats – including Harris – “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives”. He recently said his comments were “sarcastic”<\/a>.<\/p>\n Swift went on to compliment Harris’s choice of vice-presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who she said had been “been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades”.<\/p>\n The singer said she was in part motivated to share her voting decision with the public after an AI image of her falsely endorsing Trump was posted on his website.<\/p>\n “It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” she said. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”<\/p>\n Trump went on to embrace the fake images<\/a> in a post that sparked a backlash among Swift’s fans – or Swifties – who accused Trump of spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n In response to Swift’s endorsement of Harris, Trump told Fox News that “was not a Taylor Swift fan.” <\/p>\n He called her a “very liberal person” and said that she will “pay the price for it in the marketplace.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump supporter Elon Musk, known to be the father of 12 children, posted on his social-media platform X (formerly Twitter): “Fine Taylor \u2026 you win \u2026 I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Harris’s running mate Walz told MSNBC on Tuesday night after learning about the endorsement he was grateful to Swift “as a fellow cat owner.”<\/p>\n Swift is one of several celebrities to endorse Harris, including singers John Legend and Olivia Rodrigo, actor George Clooney and director Spike Lee.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, former wrestler Hulk Hogan, TV star Amber Rose and billionaire Elon Musk have endorsed Trump.<\/p>\n Swift’s intervention came after a fiery 90-minute presidential debate, during which the two candidates sparred over issues such as abortion rights, the economy and immigration.<\/p>\n It is not the first time the pop star has endorsed the Democratic nominee in a race against Trump. Swift announced her support for President Joe Biden and Harris as his vice-president a month before the 2020 election.<\/p>\n Swift was also a vocal critic of Trump during his presidency surrounding the nationwide protests over the police murder of George Floyd.<\/p>\n “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” she posted on Twitter\/X. “We will vote you out in November.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Noting Swift’s political past, one academic who studies the intersection of media and politics suggested that the endorsement was unlikely to move the needle in Harris’s favour.<\/p>\n “No surprise at all, she endorsed Biden and Harris in 2020 so we already knew her politics,” said Lauren Rosewarne, a University of Melbourne professor.<\/p>\n Swift’s endorsement could impact voter registration, Ms Rosewarne told the BBC. But because her fan-base skews young and female – and that is already the Harris supporter base – her endorsement may not have a big impact come November. <\/p>\n The singer has 283 million followers on Instagram. Her endorsement has received more than 4.5 million likes on Instagram less than three hours after she posted it.<\/p>\n In her post, Swift urged first-time voters to register and said she would post a link with more voting information on her page.<\/p>\n “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” she said. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. <\/p>\n Readers in the UK can sign up here<\/a>. Those outside the UK can sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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