The Taylor Swift Official State Sandwich: Politicians understand that Swifties are a key demographic

That's a lot of potential voters behind Swift at her Denver concert on July 14, 2023. Tom Cooper/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Like any millennial pop music fan active on social media, I’ve been following Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – the surprise songs, the scramble to get tickets, her brief romance with that guy from The 1975 with a history of racist comments.

But as a political scientist, I was intrigued by something else: reaction to the tour by government officials. New Jersey renamed the state’s famed Taylor ham, egg and cheese in her honor – it’s now the “Taylor Swift Ham, Egg, and Cheese” official state sandwich.