Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's new relationship sparks US right-wing conspiracy theory hysteria

The budding love story between music superstar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce took an unexpected turn into the world of political conspiracy theories this week after the team advanced to the Super Bowl.

Rumours have begun to emerge on social media that she and her two-time Super Bowl champion boyfriend are key assets in a secret plot to help President Joe Biden get re-elected in 2024.

The idea is that typically right-leaning fans of American football could be persuaded to vote Democrat under the global influence of anti-Trump Swift, who herself has historically voted blue.

Political and media figures on the right, including former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and political activist Laura Loomer have amplified the allegations.

"I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month," Mr Ramaswamy posted to X, formerly Twitter.

"And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.

"Just some wild speculation over here, let's see how it ages over the next 8 months."

Loomer told her more than 800,000 followers on X that "The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open."

Fox News host Jesse Watters prompted a response from the Pentagon when he described the singer as an "asset" for them in one of his segments.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh pushed back by referencing one of the star's big hits: "As for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off.”

The claims may well reflect the fear on the right that someone as famous as Swift, whose landmark Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, could indeed influence the presidential race should she urge her legion of fans in one direction.

In Swift's case, there is some proof that she can at minimum generate more voter registration.

In September, she posted a short message on her Instagram account encouraging her 272 million followers to register to vote - it led to more than 35,000 registrations on the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org.

Swift’s massive fan base gives her a powerful voice - an SSRS poll conducted in October 2023 found that about six in ten US adults called themselves at least casual fans of the singer, with 8% saying they’re big fans.

The poll also found that eight in ten US adults said they had heard of her relationship with Kelce and the majority of those familiar with it considered it a real relationship, rather than a publicity stunt.

“Pop culture people identify with this stuff, they pay attention to it. And that’s what moves politics now. It’s attention and identity,” Joel Penney, an associate professor at Montclair State University whose research includes the intersection of politics and pop culture, said.

Mr Penney said Swift’s influence could prove a difficult force to contend with, especially if she publicly supports Biden, as she did in the 2020 race.

Both Swift and Kelce have made public statements about politics and other issues that put them at odds with the far-right.

Swift broke her long-standing refusal to discuss her political views in 2018 when she announced in an Instagram post she would be voting for Tennessee’s Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen and Democratic House incumbent Rep. Jim Cooper.

She also slammed then-US Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate, citing Blackburn’s opposition to certain LGBTQ+ rights and her vote against the reauthorisation of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.

Defending Super Bowl champions the Chiefs are headed to the big game for the fourth time in five years on February 11.

Kelce and Swift officially debuted their relationship after the singer made countless appearances at the athlete's games this season.

In fact, such is her stardom that Front Office Sports recently reported Swift has created a “brand value” of $331.5 million for the Chiefs and the NFL, citing data from Apex Marketing Group.

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