When it’s an election year, specifically a presidential election year, tons of people take to social media to post about their preferred candidate and the importance of voting. This includes many celebrities who use their platforms to amplify the campaigns of politicians they support – for example, Kylie Jenner famously uploaded a bikini photo that drove people to register to vote in 2020. Now, Taylor Swift has shared her thoughts on the upcoming election, and her statement endorsing Kamala Harris drove nearly half a million people to Vote.gov.
Taylor Swift Dorve Nearly Half A Million People To Vote.gov
After the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Doland Trump aired on the 2024 TV schedule, Taylor Swift took to Instagram to endorse the Vice President and encourage people to do their research and register to vote.
Her post was lengthy, and she went into detail about why she chose to support Harris and her VP candidate Tim Walz. In the final paragraph of the statement, she explained the importance of registering to vote, and she guided her followers to resources about said topic. She wrote:
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. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.
On her IG story, there was a link to Vote.gov, and according to CBS that post brought in 405,999 users in the 24 hours after it was uploaded. The General Services Administration runs this site, and it provides information about how to register to vote and participate in elections.
Notably, a spokesperson told CBS that before Swift’s post, Vote.gov got about 30,000 visits per day.
Also, while Swift’s VMAs appearance included outfit changes and fun dance videos, she used it as a chance to ask people to register to vote as well during her Video of the Year acceptance speech.
It’s not unusual for celebrities to show their support for politicians, however, there’s no denying that Swift’s impact is massive and all she had to do was publish a simple photo.
In 2020, Kylie Jenner Posted A Bikini Photo, And It Led To Thousands Of Voter Registrations
Now, let’s throw it back to 2020. During the lead-up to the presidential election, tons of celebrities went out of their way to encourage people to vote. Lin Manuel-Miranda and the cast of Hamilton reworked lyrics to convince people to participate in the election. Paul Rudd handed out cookies to promote the importance of early voting. And famously, Kylie Jenner posted a bikini photo that led to Vote.org getting an 80% increase in traffic and about 48,000 voter registrations.
That might not be half a million, but it’s certainly an impressive number, and it’s another example of the influence people like Swift and Jenner have.
Along with being a makeup mogul and a reality star (you can stream The Kardashians with a Hulu subscription), Kylie Jenner also has 396 million Instagram followers. People are fascinated by her life and care about her opinions, so it makes sense that her post led to folks registering to vote.
The same can be said about the pop star. While she has 284 million Instagram followers, which is less than Jenner's, the public interest in Swift and her upcoming projects is higher than it has ever been. Just think about the hundreds of thousands of Swifties who have dressed to the nines for the Eras Tour or the way her fans follow Easter eggs that might relate to one of her projects, like the re-release of Reputation, and you’ll get why so many people took her advice a few days ago.
Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Kylie Jenner and other celebs comment on the upcoming election, and how it impacts folks' knowledge and actions surrounding voting.
