Swift’s post included a photo of her holding her cat, Benjamin Button, and was signed “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” a dig at disparaging remarks Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has made about women and Democrats.
“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,” wrote Swift, who endorsed Harris and President Biden in 2020. She then guided fans to a custom URL to check their voter registration status, and where to register to vote, if need be. “Remember, that in order to vote, you have to be registered!” Swift wrote.
The post garnered more than 11 million likes.
Since her post, everything has changed.
Before the debate and Swift’s subsequent endorsement, September voter registration numbers averaged 1,340 per day. After, that number climbed to more than 4,300.
On Sept. 12, Facebook and Instagram ran “top of feed” reminders for voters to register or check their registration.
State election data show there was a spike — albeit a much smaller one — after the last presidential debate in June. (Online registration numbers in Massachusetts rose from an average 207 per day to 391 after the debate between Trump and President Biden, who was the presumptive Democratic nominee at the time).
While several factors could be driving the spike, there does appear to be an invisible string tying registration numbers to Swift.
A US General Services Administration spokesperson reported on Sept. 11 that there were 337,826 visitors at vote.gov, solely from the custom URL Swift had shared, according to Reuters.
After Swift’s endorsement of Harris, Trump made a post on his Truth Social account Sunday morning declaring his distaste for the singer, which read simply “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Soon after, the Harris campaign released a statement referencing more than two dozen Swift lyrics or song titles.
“We’re pretty sure it’s Safe (& Sound) to say Donald Trump’s week has him Down Bad,” the statement said. “Mr. Not-at-all Fine has spent this week working through his feelings, whining about his Champagne Problems, and spending exactly none of his time addressing the issues facing the American people.”
Swift isn’t the only celebrity to endorse Harris in recent days.
In an Instagram post, singer Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, said they will be voting for the vice president.
”We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet, and our democracy,” Eilish said in the video.
”Vote like your life depends on it, because it does,” Eilish added.
Jeremy C. Fox and Alyssa Vega of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Neena Hagen can be reached at neena.hagen@globe.com.
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Publish date : 2024-09-17 23:01:00
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