You Belong with Me …at the Ballot Box: Taylor Swift’s role in voter registration and mobilization

Kathrine Nero

One post. One link. Four hundred thousand potential voters.

Taylor Swift has contributed to pop culture for the entirety of her career but has kicked it into overdrive since her worldwide Eras Tour. Her latest move – endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race- is influential not just because of the endorsement but also because of the civic engagement she’s encouraging.

Before the worldwide tour, before Travis Kelce and before she spawned a friendship bracelet industry with a single lyric, Swift was already part of the political discussion. But her endorsement of Vice President Harris has, like many things she does, changed the game.

Can she sway voters to her side of the political aisle? That remains to be seen. Her power so far lies in getting her fans engaged in the political process.

Speak Now

In 2018, squarely in her Reputation Era, Swift agonized over throwing her hat into the political sphere, ultimately deciding to urge her followers to register to vote. More than 65,000 people registered during a 24-hour period, and this became a central plotline in her Miss Americana documentary. She urged Swifties to vote again in 2023 with similar results. Then the Taylor effect happened again just weeks ago when she endorsed Harris after the Presidential debate.

Her September 2024 Instagram post came with a vote.gov link that more than 405,000 of her followers clicked through. There’s no way to tell how that translates into actual voter registrations, though, since users were then redirected to their home state’s registration website. The numbers from 2018 were directed through vote.org. The 2024 post itself got 11 million likes and counting.

Mobilization is Swift’s middle name, though Swifties will quickly tell you her middle name is Allison. She’s catalyzed her fans to fight Ticketmaster, share her disdain for her former partners, and scream and sing her famous song Bridges, continuing to rally her audience time and again. This time, though, she’s doing it by using her most influential platform and the biggest political showdown in the country.

Swift’s endorsement doesn’t exactly surprise anyone who’s followed the superstar’s messaging, given her outspokenness on LGBTQ+ and women’s reproductive rights throughout the years. In a sense, it’s the social media version of a political yard sign. It’s telling us what we already know. Rarely will a sign or a post change minds, even if it is authored by someone with 284 million followers. But it might just provide a reminder to Swift’s fans how similar – or different – they are from the superstar. And now, they have a way to show it on Election Day.

Only the Young

Young voters aged 18-29 have been differentiators in recent elections, playing a huge role in President Joe Biden’s win over incumbent Donald Trump in 2020. A Tufts University study shows that Biden earned 61% of the votes among people under 30, compared to 36% for Trump.

With some of the most rabid members of Swift’s fan base in that same age range, the power of mobilizing even a fraction of them could make the difference in a close race. The post was just the beginning: the ensuing media coverage amplified her “Get Out the Vote” message to bigger audiences on multiple platforms.

Elections are a multi-step process, however. Interest and engagement are just the start. If Swift can succeed in actually getting her young fans to register, regardless of how they cast their vote, it would be her greatest contribution to this year’s election. Voters aged 18-29 are among the most coveted for politicians, but voter registration within that demographic is down compared to 2020.

And therein lies the perfect “screaming crying perfect storm:” decreased voter registration among younger voters, and a great deal of the under 30 crowd that calls themselves “Swifties.”

Another interesting element to Swift’s post is that while it’s a clear endorsement, spelling out the specifics of why she’s supporting Harris, it also fosters a tone of neutrality. She encourages voters by saying, “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

Stay Stay Stay … engaged

Young voters are hard to pin down – on a lot of things, to be frank. Any parent or guardian will tell you that. But it’s especially true in this election cycle, in their choice for the top office, and most importantly, in their interest in voting at all.

Before Harris entered the race and before Swift threw her support behind the Vice President, the prospect of deciding between 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden for the nation’s oldest-ever elected President left many young voters disinterested. Harris’s nomination, Swift’s endorsement and media coverage afterward brought new life to the race. The question remains, though, if it will bring more voters to the ballot box on Election Day.

Kathrine Nero for Democracy & Me

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