Swift is a force of good, as much as any insanely rich person can be. She alone may end up responsible for tens of thousands of young women registering to vote between now and election day. One of her Instagram posts drove 35,000 voter registrations. Republicans have every reason to fear the Swiftie factor.
Yeah. She's measured with it too. One of the reasons her sway is so strong imo, is she just saved it up for a long time. So when she finally asks a fan "hey could you do this one little thing for me?" it almost feels like "uh, yeah, I've known you my whole life Taylor, of course."
Which the fan doesn't "know her" per se, but between a musician and a huge fan, it definitely feels like you do. It's a personal relationship, a little different from most other fandoms. Music is just odd that way.