Published on: September 13, 2024, 09:43h.
Last updated on: September 13, 2024, 09:56h.
Taylor Swift on Tuesday night supported Vice President Kamala Harris to be the next leader of the nation.
Swift’s large group of fans, known as “Swifties,” apparently took action to support Harris. Vote.gov, the official federal government website for voter registration, saw a significant increase in traffic after Swift informed her 574 million social media followers that she would vote for the Democratic party on November 5.
According to Tom Bonier, a senior advisor at TargetSmart in Washington, DC, Vote.org has seen a 400% to 500% rise in voter registration.
This is an unprecedented trend. We refer to it as the ‘Swift Effect,'” Bonier told CBS News.
“Typically, these spikes in activity subside over time, but in this case, we have seen it persist over the past two days,” Bonier stated. “We’re talking about nine to 10K people per hour visiting Vote.org.”
Harris continues to lead the betting odds for the 2024 election, with her chances estimated to be around 50-56%.
Will They Vote?
The surge in traffic to Vote.org followed not only Swift’s endorsement of Harris but also the debate between the vice president and former President Donald Trump. The increased traffic may include undecided voters who have now made a decision after the lengthy debate.
With Harris being widely considered the debate’s winner and with Swift’s endorsement, it’s highly likely that many of the new visitors to Voter.org are prospective voters looking to support the Democratic presidential nominee. Bonier mentions that historical data indicates that the majority of people who register to vote shortly before Election Day actually go out and vote.
When asked about Swift endorsing his opponent during an interview on Fox News, Trump stated that he is not a fan of Taylor Swift. The former casino owner described Swift as a very liberal person who always supports Democrats and suggested that she might face consequences for her political stance in the market.
Trump mentioned that he supports Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes recently expressed public support for Trump. Swift is in a relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Previous Turnout
The 2020 election set a record for the highest number of votes resulting in Joe Biden becoming the 46th President. Over 158.4 million votes were cast, a 16% increase from the previous record set in 2016, when Trump and Hillary Clinton received nearly 136.7 million votes.
The previous record was set in 2008 with over 131.4 million votes cast during Barack Obama’s first term election.
With Vote.org reporting a significant increase in traffic, a high voter turnout usually doesn’t bode well for the Republican candidate. This could explain why Trump’s odds for the 2024 election have decreased since the debate.
At Smarkets, a political wagering platform, Trump’s implied odds of winning in November have fallen below 47%.