Taylor Swift, one of the world’s most influential celebrities, significantly boosted traffic to the U.S. government’s Vote.gov site after endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
On Tuesday, September 10, Swift announced via Instagram that she would be voting for Harris in the upcoming November U.S. presidential election. This endorsement came shortly after the conclusion of a debate between Harris and Donald Trump. Swift wrote, “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. 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.”
With over 284 million Instagram followers, Swift shared a link to Vote.gov in an Instagram Story. In the 24 hours following her post, the site saw an influx of 405,999 visitors directed from Swift’s Instagram account, according to a spokesperson for the General Services Administration (GSA), which runs Vote.gov. This surge represented more than a tenfold increase compared to the site’s typical traffic; from September 3-9, Vote.gov averaged about 30,000 visitors per day. The Swift-driven traffic accounted for more than half of all visitors to Vote.gov between September 10 and 11, which totaled 726,523 visitors.
Although it is not clear how many of the visitors driven by Swift’s endorsement went on to register to vote, the GSA reported that more than 27,000 new registrations occurred via Vote.gov on September 11. Additionally, over 80,000 people verified their voter registration status. Vote.gov directs users to their respective state election websites for state-specific information, as voter registration must be completed directly with each state.
At the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on Wednesday, where Swift won seven awards and broke a record with 30 career wins, she took the stage to encourage Americans to vote. “If you are 18, please register to vote,” she said. “It’s an important election.”
Vote.gov describes itself as a “trusted source for accurate, official voting information from the U.S. government to the American public,” with a mission to simplify the voting process for all eligible voters.
In her endorsement, Swift also addressed concerns about misinformation, mentioning a fabricated AI-generated video of her endorsing Donald Trump that was posted on Trump’s site. She expressed her fears regarding AI and the spread of misinformation, stating, “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Swift’s Instagram post supporting Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, has garnered over 10 million likes as of Thursday. She humorously signed off the post as “Childless Cat Lady,” a nod to comments by Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, who once referred to the Democratic party as being led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
