Vote.Gov Had Nearly 406000 Visitors After Taylor Swift's Endorsement

6 days ago

Forbes

Topline

The link Taylor Swift shared to vote.gov after announcing her support for Vice President Kamala Harris and encouraging others to register to vote had nearly 406,000 people click on it—emphasizing the impact the billionaire pop star’s endorsement could have on the election.

The billionaire pop star encouraged her fans to register to vote when accepting an award at the MTV ... [+] Music Video Awards one day after she said she would be voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

AFP via Getty Images Key Facts

In the 24-hour period Swift’s Instagram story linking to vote.gov was live, there were a total of 405,999 visitors referred to the site from her custom link, Rachel Davis, a spokesperson for the General Services Administration, told Forbes in a statement Thursday.

Visitors from Swift’s link accounted for more than half of the total number of visitors—726,523 people—to vote.gov between Sept. 10 and 11.

Swift endorsed Harris after Tuesday’s debate between the vice president and former President Donald Trump, telling her 284 million followers on Instagram that Harris “fights for the rights and causes I believe [in].”

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What We Don’t Know

It’s not immediately clear how many of the people who clicked Swift’s link went on to register to vote.

Key Background

Swift fans and political pundits alike had been speculating for weeks on whether—and if so, when—Swift would endorse Harris. The pop star has largely stayed out of politics throughout her career, endorsing only a handful of candidates previously: In 2018 she endorsed Democratic candidates in Tennessee and in 2020 she supported President Joe Biden over Trump. In her 2020 documentary “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana,” Swift expressed regret for not speaking out against Trump in 2016 and said moving forward she wanted to “be on the right side of history.” Swift said she was supporting the Harris ticket in part because of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and his stances on “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body.” Swift also said her endorsement was spurred by AI images of her that Trump had shared on his social media implying she had endorsed him. Swift said the images “really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” so she came to the “conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”

Big Number

65,000. That’s how many people reportedly registered to vote in 2018 after Swift endorsed Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen and encouraged her fans to register to vote.

Forbes Valuation

We estimate Swift to be worth about $1.3 billion as of Thursday afternoon, making her the 2,354th-wealthiest person in the world. Swift became a billionaire last October in large part due to the success of her worldwide Eras Tour, which is on a break but resumes in October.

Surprising Fact

Swift’s political activity for the week didn’t stop Tuesday: The next day, the pop star encouraged people to vote in her acceptance speech for “Video of the Year” at the MTV Video Music Awards. Swift said she appreciated that the award she won was “a fan-voted award” before adding: “If you’re over 18, please register to vote for something else that is important—the presidential election.”