In classic ‘Style,’ Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris drives 300k visitors to voter info site

Hundreds of thousands have flocked to a voter registration website after Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in the wake of Tuesday’s debate against Donald Trump.

On Tuesday evening, the pop star posted on Instagram announcing her support for Harris in the 2024 election. A spokesperson for the General Services Administration told The Independent that as of 2pm ET on Wednesday, there have been 337,826 visitors to Vote.gov referred from the custom URL created and shared by Swift.

Vote.gov is not a voter registration website, but directs voters to their state election websites for state-specific voting information.

Given Swift’s influence — and history of success urging her followers to register to vote — her endorsement was highly coveted.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson at Vote.org said that between 9pm and midnight, Eastern Time, there was a 585 percent spike in voters using Vote.org’s register/verify tools compared to that same time interval over the previous eight days.

Further, Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said: “Taylor Swift’s impact on voter engagement is undeniable. The important thing to remember is that Taylor’s work serves as a model that everyone with a platform can use to encourage Americans to participate in civic engagement. At the heart of it all, every American is an influencer and can help people around them register, vote, and protect access to the ballot box.”

Hailey says they are proud of their year-round efforts and the resulting youth engagement in this election cycle.

“Younger voters under 35 have accounted for 79% of the over one million new voters we have registered, and 18-year-olds accounting for over one-third of new registrations. With an 81% rate of converting registrations into votes, we are ready to reach even more voters with the trusted information they need to register and then turn them out to the polls.”

On National Voter Registration Day 2023, after Swift urged her 270 million Instagram followers, Vote.org enjoyed 13,000 users every 30 minutes. “During the day on Tuesday we saw a 1226% jump in participation the hour after Taylor Swift posted,” Hailey said at the time.

National Voter Registration Day this year is September 17 and Vote.org is working with major brands and influencers to encourage more Americans to vote, including Olivia Rodrigo, Stephen Curry, and Snapchat.

Swift’s endorsement of Harris comes four years after she endorsed Biden.

The singer-songwriter posted that she had watched the debate and made her decision.

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” she wrote.

In her Instagram post, Swift continued: “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. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

She added: “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.”

In a jab to Trump running mate JD Vance, who called Harris a “childless cat lady” in a 2021 clip that has come back to haunt him, the superstar signed off her lengthy post as “Taylor Swift, childless cat lady.”