A Swiftie, me, talks about Taylor’s low ratings in PA

“I am a Swiftie,” my 30ish restaurant server was surprised to hear me say, after the meal had concluded and we were having a brief chat, which was joined by a couple of other young women standing nearby.

“What’s not to like?” I asked.

A couple of days later that rhetorical question was answered by a Philadelphia Inquirer poll that showed megastar Taylor Swift’s favorability among Pennsylvanians was about the same as Donald J. Trump, and both trailed Kamala Harris, who has never had a hit album.

Harris was liked by a bare majority, 51%, followed by Swift at 46% and Trump at 45%.

Given that more people attend Swift’s rallies (called concerts) than Trump’s, and they pay a queen’s ransom for tickets, why should that be?

First, me. Why am I a Swiftie?

Even Trump grudgingly admits she’s beautiful, but that’s not key for me.

I have followed — not closely — her career from when she was a gangly country singer upstate, to her career-savvy move to Nashville, to her seamless conversion from country to pop, along the way using her power to box the ears of record companies. As an independent businesswoman she is a shark, but she has never lost the tight emotional bond with her fans and her availability to them. It’s shrewd business, but I think it is genuinely her. When she is with Travis and the Kelce clan, she plays the role of girl friend, not demanding superstar. Good parenting, I think.

I have never bought or downloaded anything she has recorded. She does not have the voice of a Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey or Christina Aguilera. Her lyrics are not intended for a shall we say mature (ahem) man, but for younger (and older) women who have experienced heartbreak. She has used her music to settle scores. I can relate to all that. (I used to joke that I hoped someday she would write a song about me. Inside joke for Swifties.)

So what might account for her low favorability?

She’s a Lefty.

In Philadelphia, that would be a plus, but not in the rest of our Commonwealth, sometimes referred to as Pennsyltucky. Or, as James Carville put it years ago, “Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, with Alabama in between.”

A dear friend, a very conservative woman, loathes Swift, and not just because she joined the Kansas City Chiefs tribe.

No. It’s mainly because Swift is pro-choice. So are almost two-thirds of Americans, but that doesn’t matter to my friend, who considers abortion a moral evil.

I don’t agree with my friend, but I understand the depth of her feelings. I am unenthusiastically pro-choice, but would never vote for an election denier. So we all have our different bends and shapes.

My friend is a Trumpster. I am not. She was very cross when Swift endorsed Harris. Period. 

I was slightly surprised Swift endorsed Harris, but I really liked how she did it in a message to her 238 million Instagram followers. Here is the first paragraph:

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.”

Get that? She asked her people to research and reach their own conclusions. She did not ask them to vote for Kamala Harris, as she said she would do later in the message.

She then reiterated she had done her research and asked her followers to do the same.

So what’s wrong with that?

And even though I admire her, and I am a Swiftie, you may have noticed that didn’t stop me from using a meme that makes fun of her.

She can take it.