Taylor Swift’s public endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris last week has caused a colossal spike in the number of visitors on the General Services Administration site, which operates vote.gov.
Less than 24 hours after Swift’s Instagram post, where she revealed her support for Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, more than 406,000 people had visited the federal voter registration site where American citizens can register to vote. But according to ABC News and Ipsos polls, the endorsement hasn’t actually made a huge impact on voters.
The poll, which surveyed more than 3,000 Americans found that 81 per cent of respondents said Swift’s endorsement made no difference in their likelihood of voting for Harris, while only 6 per cent said it made them likelier to vote for Harris.
But one expert from the data firm TargetSmart believes that the number of visitors to the voter site is also leading to a tangible increase in voter registrations.
“What we saw was this really massive increase,” Tom Bonier told CBS News. “We’re calling it ‘the Swift effect’ now, because it’s really unlike anything I’ve seen. We’re seeing a 400 or 500 per cent increase in people coming to try to register to vote immediately following the debate, and in that period after Taylor Swift posted on Instagram.”
“What’s really remarkable about that is, usually you’ll see these increases and they’ll kind of fade away. This time we’ve seen the increase continue through the last two days, into today. We’re seeing this continued spike of four or five times what you would normally see.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday morning to write, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
The 78-year old former president said Swift “seems to always endorse a Democrat and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”
He called Swift a “very liberal person,” adding, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan.”
Trump’s running mate, J.D Vance also dismissed Swift’s endorsement of Harris, saying he didn’t believe American citizens would be swayed by a “billionaire celebrity” who he accused of being “fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.”
On Fox News, the Ohio Senator said he “admire[s] Taylor Swift’s music,” but that he didn’t think Americans could relate to her.
“When grocery prices go up by 20 per cent, it hurts most Americans,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt Taylor Swift. When housing prices become unaffordable, it doesn’t affect Taylor Swift, or any other billionaire.”
Of course, social media users were quick to jump on Vance’s hypocrisy — after all, his ‘boss’ was a billionaire reality TV celebrity before he entered politics.
In the past few weeks, several high profile Republicans have endorsed Harris, including former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, former White House press secretary under Trump Stephanie Grisham, former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, anti-Trump ex-congresswoman Liz Cheney.
On Sunday, the 58-year old Wyoming politician responded to Trump’s rant against Swift, writing a simple message on X that read: “Says the smallest man who ever lived” — invoking one of Swift’s songs.
Last Wednesday, Swift used her multiple wins at the MTV Video Music Awards in Elmont, New York to encourage her fans to vote at the elections in November.
“The fact that this is a fan-voted award, I appreciate it so much, and if you’re over 18, please register to vote for something else that’s very important for America — the 2024 presidential election,” she said.