Voter registrations skyrocket after Taylor Swift's get-out-the-vote push
- Voter registrations among young Americans shot up in the wake of pop megastar Taylor Swift's Instagram post urging her 112 million Instagram followers to get out the vote.
- Vote.org says nearly 65,000 Americans ages 18 to 29 registered to vote in the roughly 24 hours after the singer-songwriter's social media rallying cry.
- By noon on Tuesday, that number grew to more than 102,000.
Voter registrations among young Americans shot up in the wake of pop megastar Taylor Swift's Instagram post urging her 112 million followers to get out the vote.
Swift's Sunday night missive, in which she also endorsed two Tennessee Democrats, catapulted the generally apolitical singer into the fray ahead of the November midterms. New data from Vote.org show Swift's voice is already making an impact.
The nonprofit group said nearly 65,000 Americans ages 18 to 29 registered to vote in the roughly 24 hours after the singer-songwriter's social media rallying cry.
By noon on Tuesday, that number grew to more than 102,000 — about 70 percent of which came from voters below the age of 25.
Source: Vote.org
That surge in young registrations far exceeded the combined total of every other age group in the roughly 48-hour time period, in which about 64,000 Americans ages 30 and up registered.
Swift targeted young Americans in her lengthy message. "So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count," she wrote, noting that Tennessee's voting registration deadline was fast approaching.
Tennessee is among 14 states with voter-registration deadlines Tuesday.
Vote.org attributed the spike in young-voter numbers to Swift's Instagram message.
"Taylor's post has helped bring out young voters," the nonprofit said in a statement. "We're especially happy to see that because we know voting is habit-forming."
In Swift's home state of Tennessee, registrations in just the first eight days of October have already blown past every other month in 2018. More than 5,000 Tennesseans registered in October by Tuesday at noon, more than twice as many as the next-highest month of September, which saw 2,811 registrations.
Commentary: Taylor Swift's decision to 'walk the political plank' was the right choice
The spike placed Tennessee as the state with the ninth-highest numbers since Sunday, with 6,217 registrations overall. Texas, which has roughly four times the population of Tennessee, took the top spot with 31,307 registrations.
Swift had long declined to endorse or denounce specific political candidates — a position that irked some political activists. But in her Instagram message Sunday, Swift wrote that "I feel differently about that now."
The post urged Tennessee voters to vote for Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate over his GOP challenger, Marsha Blackburn, in the Nov. 6 elections. Both candidates are angling to fill the seat of Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who is not running for re-election. Swift also endorsed incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper.
Swift's post supporting Democrats contrasts with the views of hip hop veteran Kanye West, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and a self-styled iconoclast who is set to meet with the president later this week. West donned a red "Make America Great Again" hat and railed against the cast of "Saturday Night Live" during his Sept. 29 guest appearance on the weekly sketch show.
West infamously rushed the stage of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards during Swift's acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award, grabbing the microphone and yelling, "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"