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Taylor Swift's support brought Vote.Gov nearly 406,000 visitors within 24 hours

Top line

Nearly 406,000 people clicked on the link Taylor Swift shared to vote.gov after she declared her support for Vice President Kamala Harris and urged others to register to vote, underscoring the impact the billionaire pop stars' endorsement could have on the election.

Key data

In the 24 hours that Swift's Instagram story with the link to vote.gov was live, a total of 405,999 visitors were directed to the site through her custom link, Rachel Davis, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, said in a statement to Forbes on Thursday.

More than half of the total number of visitors – 726,523 people – to vote.gov between September 10 and 11 were visitors through Swift’s link.

Swift endorsed Harris after the debate between the vice president and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, telling her 284 million followers on Instagram that Harris is “fighting for the rights and causes that I believe are [in].”

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What we don’t know

It is not immediately clear how many of the people who clicked on Swift's link subsequently registered to vote.

Important background

Swift's fans and political pundits had speculated for weeks about whether — and if so, when — Swift would endorse Harris. The pop star has largely stayed out of politics throughout her career, previously supporting only a handful of candidates: In 2018, she endorsed Democratic candidates in Tennessee and in 2020, she endorsed President Joe Biden over Trump. In her 2020 documentary “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana,” Swift expressed regret for not speaking out against Trump in 2016 and said she wanted to “be on the right side of history” going forward. Swift said she supported Harris' candidacy in part because of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and his stance on “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF and a woman's right to her own body.” Swift also said her support was prompted by AI images of her that Trump shared on his social media that implied she supported him. Swift said the images “really revived my fears about artificial intelligence and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” leading her to “conclude that as a voter, I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election.”

Large number

65,000. That's how many people reportedly registered to vote in 2018 after Swift endorsed Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen and urged her fans to register to vote as well.

Forbes Rating

We estimate Swift's net worth as of Thursday afternoon was about $1.3 billion, making her the 2,354th richest person in the world. Swift became a billionaire last October largely thanks to the success of her global Eras tour, which is currently on hiatus but will resume in October.

Surprising fact

Swift's political activities didn't end on Tuesday: The next day, in her acceptance speech for Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, the pop star urged people to vote. Swift said she appreciated that the award she won was “voted by the fans,” adding, “If you're over 18, please register to vote for something else that matters – the presidential election.”

More information

ForbesTaylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris: Billionaire pop star's political past explainedFrom Molly BohannonForbesTaylor Swift asks her fans to vote and thanks Travis Kelce for the top prize at the VMAsFrom Siladitya Ray

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