Following the intense 2024 presidential debate, pop sensation Taylor Swift voiced her support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy in the upcoming election. She announced her endorsement through an Instagram post put up directly after the debate was aired, leading to a spike in voting interest.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.” Swift stated in the caption of her post.
She goes on to justify her backing of Harris. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Swift did not make her decision to endorse hastily. She mentions that she researched the candidates and urges viewers of the post to do the same.
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make,” Swift stated, reminding voters of the need to register. “Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered!”
Following the post, 405,999 people viewed vote.gov through the link in Swift’s Instagram story in the 24 hours after it was uploaded. On average, vote.gov saw 30,000 viewers to the website per day leading up to Swift’s post. This doesn’t show direct registration statistics as each person must register to vote via their own state website. Despite that, this shows a major increase in the interest to vote.
This is not the first time Swift made waves in voter registration. Just last year, an Instagram story was uploaded by Swift expressing the importance of voting in the upcoming elections.
“Are you registered to vote yet?” Swift wrote. “I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently. I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”
Following that post, over 35,000 people registered to vote on vote.gov, a 22.5% increase from the year prior. This also led to a large increase in young voters, with a 115% increase of 18-year-old voting registrations from the previous year.
