At least one voter registration website has seen a massive spike in Americans — especially young ones — signing up to vote after music superstar Taylor Swift urged her Instagram followers to hit the polls this November.
Of the roughly 240,000 people who have registered on Vote.org for the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 6, nearly half, or about 102,000, are between the ages of 18 and 29, the website found.
Through just nine days in October, more Americans have registered to vote through Vote.org than any other full month this year.
Nearly 71,000 people ages 18-24 have registered to vote since Swift’s Instagram post on Sunday. That’s 45 percent of the roughly 159,000 voters who have registered in that three-day period.
Of course, with registrations deadlines approaching and passing in states all over the country, Vote.org expected a bump in the numbers this month.
“We always have a spike in October. People wait until the deadline to register,” a Vote.org spokesperson said in a press release Tuesday.
But the spike since Swift’s Instagram post is unprecedented, the spokesperson indicated.
“Taylor Swift’s visibility on this issue is driving a lot of coverage of voter registration and it’s reaching many of her fans who would not otherwise be following news like this,” he said. “Ultimately, this might have been what pushed many of those 18-24-year-old voters over the line to register.”
Republicans and Democrats have speculated the ongoing debate surrounding the Senate confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — even after he was confirmed last Saturday — will energize voters in their respective parties.
The Senate’s 50-48 vote in favor of confirming Kavanaugh could have contributed to the bump, though Roll Call’s Stuart Rothenberg cautions against leaning on that narrative through November.
Swift has more than 112 million followers on Instagram, where on Sunday she criticized Tennessee Senate candidate and GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn.
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Swift wrote that the Tennessee Republican’s voting record “appalls and terrifies” her, noting that Blackburn opposes reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and supports businesses that decline to serve gay couples because of their religious views.
“These are not MY Tennessee values,” Swift wrote.
She endorsed former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, Blackburn’s opponent in the contest, and longtime Nashville Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper.
Swift’s post has garnered nearly 1.9 million “likes” and dozens of thousands of comments.
Swift urged her followers to register before Tennessee’s Oct. 9 deadline and pointed them toward Vote.org.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates Tennessee’s open race for Senate Leans Republican.
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