Taylor Swift’s Political Post Sees Significant Spike in Voter Registration

Rachel McRady‍
Updated
The singer finally opened up about her political beliefs and within 24 hours, thousands of Americans had registered to vote.

Who says one person can’t make a difference?

It’s been more than 24 hours since Taylor Swift broke her longtime political silence and took a stand about the midterm elections on Instagram. In the time since her lengthy post, in which she outlined her beliefs, encouraged voters to register, and endorsed Democrats in both Tennessee’s Senate and House of Representatives, there have been significant, positive changes in voter registration across the country.

“We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T.Swift’s post,” Kamari Guthrie, the director of communications for Vote.org told BuzzFeed News.

That’s a little under half the new voters the country saw in the entire month of September.

Tennessee also saw an increase in registered voters after Swift’s post, specifically, 2,144 registrations in the last 36 hours. That’s out of 5,183 the state has seen in this month so far.

I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. 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. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

“To have someone of her stature and with such a large microphone to step up and actually reinforce what we already know here is definitely going to boost the morale of people who have been told Tennesseans are divisive,” Mary Mancini, the chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party told BuzzFeed News.

In her post, Swift explained her reasoning for finally taking a political stance, writing, “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.”

She went on to say she supports candidates who “fight for the human rights I believe we deserve in this country,” listing LGBTQ rights, gender discrimination, and calling out systemic racism.

The post prompted President Donald Trump to speak out against the singer, telling reporters, “Let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now.”

For more, watch the clip below:

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