From ‘Eras’ to elections: How Taylor Swift is shaping Gen Z politics and the gender divide

Pop megastar Taylor Swift has sway — and not just in a musical sense. As her record-breaking world tour winds down, she is making headlines by sparking a surge in voter registration.

After encouraging her fans to engage politically via a single Instagram post, more than 400,000 people flocked to the U.S. voter registration website almost instantly, reports say.

Some pop culture mavens note that Ms. Swift’s impact on her predominantly female fan base isn’t about just party politics. It symbolizes a growing divide between young American men and women that may shape the sociopolitical landscape in years to come.

According to the Survey Center on American Life, nearly 6 in 10 Gen Z men have a negative view of the pop superstar but most Gen Z women view Ms. Swift favorably.

Recent polling shows that 68% of young women support Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and just 30% back Republican Donald Trump. Young men are much more evenly split.

Molly, a 25-year-old marketing associate in Queens, New York, said she has been a “Swiftie” since she was 11. She has supported Sen. Bernard Sanders for many years but said she doesn’t feel politically swayed by Ms. Swift so much as empowered by her.

“I mean, she’s not making my decision for me. I was going to vote regardless, but her [political] choices remind me that, you know, my personal [choices] are good,” Molly said.

Ms. Swift recently revealed that she had done thorough research and planned to vote for Ms. Harris in November. “As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country,” Ms. Swift posted to her 284 million Instagram followers.

Leah Jacobson, founder and CEO of The Guiding Star Project, a nonprofit women’s health clinic in Minnesota, has worked with young women for more than 20 years. She said Ms. Swift’s female allure is one of control.

“You never hear political discussions surrounding Taylor Swift posed as, you know: ‘What is her level of education?’ It’s just what everyone is so focused on — that she gives off the persona of living the exact life she wants to live, like she’s on top,” Ms. Jacobson said. “She’s in control. She gets to make the choices and do exactly what she wants to do. And I think so, in a sense, she’s kind of redefining success.”

Success may be an understatement.

Ms. Swift’s world-spanning “Eras Tour” has grossed more than $2.165 billion, making it the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, Time magazine reports.

Ms. Swift’s economic influence, which the media call “Swiftonomics,” has revitalized hotels, restaurants and other businesses in every city she visits worldwide, Time data shows.

She has collected numerous music industry awards and dominates streaming platforms. With more than 100 million monthly listeners, her music made her the most-streamed artist on Spotify last year.

The recent and higher frequency of her music releases could be a factor. Since losing the rights to her master recordings when her label was sold to Scooter Braun, Ms. Swift has embarked on a quest to reclaim them. She has been rerecording her earlier songs and reliving her years, or “eras,” as an artist.

Her rerecorded albums have generated even more popularity. Last year’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” topped the Billboard 200 and surpassed its original release in sales.

Ms. Jacobson said this rerecording effort appeals to women.

“That’s a big part of her storyline, is that, you know, men have tried to own her, and she cannot be owned. The movie theaters cannot own her because she releases her film on her own terms,” Ms. Jacobson said. “Maybe that’s why the Democratic Party is also seeing so much support and alignment from young women. They’ve done a really good job of creating that narrative of ‘you are in control.’ And they’ve, you know, absolutely made that synonymous with reproductive rights and abortion rights.”

Like many other celebrities, Ms. Swift openly champions causes such as LGBTQ rights and reproductive freedom. Many young men are starting to abandon liberal movements in favor of more conservative values.

Mark Hall, a scholar of Christianity & Public Life at George Fox University in Oregon, said he has observed this shift firsthand.

“Obviously, young women are far more likely to be progressive politically than men,” Mr. Hall said. “We’re all detecting a shift among young men, especially those 18 to 28, moving in a more conservative direction.”

Women historically have been considered more religiously affiliated than men, a dynamic so common that some scholars called it “a universal truth,” according to research from the American Enterprise Institute.

Indeed, church membership has declined in the U.S. for years, but Generation Z is driving that trend in a new direction. Nearly 40% of Gen Z women identify as religiously unaffiliated, compared with 34% of their male peers, according to a survey from the Survey Center on American Life.

Mr. Hall sees a response to what many young men view as an overreach of liberalism in cultural spaces, driving them toward more traditional values.

This shift is not just political but also cultural. Mr. Hall said young men are increasingly likely to embrace traditional roles and norms as a reaction to what they see as the erosion of these values in mainstream culture. What is deemed restrictive to many women, he said, is becoming enticing to young men.

“They’re far more interested in political arrangements where our rulers promote the good life by reinforcing traditional norms,” Mr. Hall said. “Young men are done with liberalism that champions neutrality on moral questions.”

Erika is a University of Texas psychology graduate who said she plans to vote for Mr. Trump in November. Although she has listened to Ms. Swift for years, she knows only the radio hits and doesn’t heed her political advice.

“Honestly, I don’t super love a lot of the attention she gets — it’s kind of annoying. Dear God, she’s everywhere. Every girl I know seems to listen to her,” she said. “But, look, I don’t hate her, you know, in the way my fiance does.”

Erika said she thinks her fiance’s annoyance is partly driven by his political leanings. “He just doesn’t think pop stars should be commentating on politics, which is fair. But, yeah, I actually think he just wishes she wouldn’t keep showing up at football games,” she said with a laugh.

Indeed, Ms. Swift has flaunted her romantic relationship at several NFL games, and it has proved profitable. Her presence at games in support of her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, led to a significant spike in viewership and reportedly drew millions of new fans to the games.

The NFL capitalized on this surge by prominently featuring Swift-related content during broadcasts. Although it resulted in the biggest viewing audiences of the season, many men weren’t happy about it.

Instagram comments on the NFL’s account feature plenty of requests to show less of Ms. Swift on the Jumbotron in the second season since she began publicly dating Mr. Kelce. “Can we not this season?” asked one user. Another demanded, “Show me football!”

“I’m just there to support Travis,” she told Time magazine late last year. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads and Chads.”

Ms. Swift’s absence from the Chiefs’ most recent games has sparked speculation.

After she endorsed Ms. Harris for president, Ms. Swift’s monthly Spotify listenership dropped by more than 2 million, from 94 million on Sept. 10 to 91.9 million by Sept. 27, according to Chartmetric.

Her YouTube views in the U.S. fell nearly 10%, continuing a downtrend before her political endorsement.

Ms. Swift’s representation did not respond to The Washington Times’ request for comment.