Taylor Swift Levies the Swifties as the Elections Approach
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has once again demonstrated the massive sway she has over the American public by backing Vice President Kamala Harrisâs presidential campaign and causing a surge in online activity.
The Swifties Have Banded Behind the Star
Swift expressed support for Harris on Tuesday, saying that she is firm about backing the Democrats. This immediately summoned her fervent fans, also known as âSwifties,â causing an immediate spike in registrations on the official voter registration website.
Washington-based campaign consultancy TargetSmart reported an unprecedented increase in voter registration. According to senior advisor Tom Bonier, Vote.org saw a 400-500% increase in voter registration in the wake of Swiftâs announcement. He elaborated that roughly 9,000-10,000 people visited the site every hour.
In an interview with CBS News, Bonier called this the âSwift Effectâ and said that his team has never seen anything like it before.
Usually, youâll see these increases and they kind of fade away, but in this case, weâve seen it continue through the last two days.
Tom bonier, senior advisor, TargetSmart
While this isnât to say that everyone who registers will actually go and vote, Bonier noted that people who register close to the election tend to do so.
The Recent Debate Is Also Likely to Have Affected the Figures
In the meantime, betting platforms just reported that Harrisâ odds of winning the elections have surpassed Donald Trumpâs in the wake of the recent debate. Even Elon Musk, who tends to think that Trump would get more done, admitted that the Democratic candidate had exceeded his expectations.
The debate itself is also likely to have contributed to the increased traffic to Vote.org. Despite that, the Swift Effect has somewhat been proven before. Last fall, Swiftâs rumored relationship with Travis Kelce was enough to spark an avalanche of NFL wagers.
In any case, Trump was not impressed with Swift. In an interview with Fox News, he implied that she is a very liberal person who always votes blue and may âpay a price for it in the marketplace.â