Taylor Swift’s recent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris has sparked a significant increase in voter engagement, according to reports. Following the Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump’s debate on Tuesday night, Swift took to Instagram to express her support for Harris. As a result, the federal voter registration website, vote.gov, experienced a surge in traffic, with 337,826 visitors clicking on a custom URL shared by Swift.
While it remains unclear how many of these visitors actually registered to vote, the impact of Swift’s endorsement on voter engagement cannot be denied. Vote.org, another voter registration site, reported a staggering 585% spike in website visitors between 9 p.m. and midnight during the debate. Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org, acknowledged Swift’s influence on voter engagement, particularly among her dedicated fan base known as the Swifties.
In her endorsement, Swift emphasized the importance of registering to vote, especially for first-time voters. She provided a link to vote.gov and encouraged her followers to research the candidates and their proposed policies. Swift’s decision to publicly endorse Harris was motivated by a fraudulent image created using artificial intelligence, which falsely portrayed her support for the Republican candidate.
Swift’s endorsement did not explicitly call for her fans to support Harris, but rather urged them to conduct their own research on the candidates’ positions. The endorsement post featured a photo of Swift with her cat, Benjamin Button, from her Time Person of the Year spread. This choice of image is believed to be a response to a derogatory comment made by Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance about Democratic women.
In response to Swift’s endorsement, President Trump dismissed it and expressed his preference for Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Trump mentioned that Mahomes is a supporter of his, referencing her liking one of his Instagram posts outlining his “2024 GOP Platform.” Mahomes faced backlash for this action, leading her to defend herself against critics.