While it has long been believed that celebrity endorsements of political candidates don’t matter, Taylor Swift has shown that she has succeeded in encouraging her legion of fans to get civic-minded and register to vote.
It looks like Swift pulled off another voter registration coup when she posted on Instagram on Tuesday night following the heated presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The pop star told her 283 million followers that she supports Democrat Harris for president and her running mate Tim Walz for vice president. She also urged her followers to register to vote in the November 5 presidential election.
“I also want to say to first-time voters in particular: remember that you must be registered to vote!” wrote Swift, who is scheduled to appear at the MTV Video Awards on Wednesday night, where she is nominated for 12 awards, eight of them for her music video “Fortnight.”
“I also find it much easier to vote early,” Swift continued. “I will post a link on my story about where to register and where to find early voting dates and information.” She shared a link on her Instagram story that directed people to Vote.gov, the U.S. government’s official source of information on voting, including how to register to vote or update your registration status in your home state.
Over the next half day, more than 337,000 visitors landed on the Vote.gov website, using the URL provided by Swift, according to a General Services Administration spokesman.
The more than 337,000 visitors certainly represent a significant number, although it was not immediately clear whether those visits translated into registrations. Vote.gov directs voters to their respective state websites for state-specific voting information, and voters must register directly in their state.
Nevertheless, this attendance shows that the singer-songwriter, with her global following and broad cultural appeal, can generate enthusiasm for political engagement and specific candidates.
“Taylor Swift’s impact on voter engagement is undeniable,” said Andrea Hailey, CEO of the nonprofit Vote.org, a nonpartisan voter registration and voter mobilization technology platform. “Importantly, Taylor’s work serves as a model that anyone with a platform can use to encourage Americans to get civically engaged. Essentially, every American is an influencer and can help those around them register, vote, and protect access to the ballot box.”
During and after Tuesday night’s debate, Vote.org saw a similar 585% increase in visitors using the site’s tools to register or confirm their registration. This was compared to the same 6-9 p.m. time periods over the previous eight days. The debate, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, was broadcast on the West Coast during that time, while Swift’s endorsement came shortly after the debate ended.
Swift has previously partnered with Vote.org and directed her followers to its voter registration services, and when she spoke about the importance of civic engagement on National Voter Registration Day in September 2023, her fans listened, according to NPR.
On National Voter Registration Day, she directed her fans to Vote.org, which has seen over 35,000 new registrations, according to NPR. Hailey said at the time that the site had seen a record 1,225% increase in registrations, with an average of 13,000 users every 30 minutes.
“I was so lucky to see so many of you at my US shows recently,” Swift told her fans at the time, referring to everyone who came to one of her US performances on her successful Eras tour. “Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”
On Tuesday night, minutes after Harris and Trump left the debate stage in Philadelphia, Swift virtually brought the internet to a standstill by announcing her support for Harris.
“I will be voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election,” Swift wrote in a lengthy statement. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes that I believe need a champion to represent her.”
Swift captioned her post, “Childless Cat Lady,” a clear reference to Trump’s running mate JD Vance and his infamous comments demeaning women, cat owners, and childless couples. Swift accompanied her support with a photo of herself with one of her cats, Benjamin Button, her ragdoll.
On Wednesday morning, Trump tried to act as if he didn’t care that Swift was supporting his opponent. In a chat with the hosts of Fox and Friends on Fox News, he warned that the “liberal” pop star would “pay a price” in the “marketplace” and suggested she would lose conservative fans. But as hard as Trump tried to appear cavalier, Swift’s endorsement of Harris garnered more than a million likes within just 13 minutes of being posted. By late Wednesday afternoon, it had already garnered more than nine million likes.
Swift first became politically active during the 2018 midterm elections, when the former country star endorsed Democratic candidates in her home state of Tennessee. Her Instagram post, which she shared with her then-112 million Instagram followers, is said to have prompted more than 100,000 people to register on Vote.org.
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