A day ago, Taylor Swift made a rare political post on Instagram to support Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper running for Senate and House, respectively, in Tennessee. In the day following her post, voter registrations in Tennessee and across the country have jumped. According to ABC News , there have been over 51,000 new registrations on Vote.org since Swift made her feelings known.
Vote.org, which helps people register to vote and to find polling locations, also said that it saw a leap in website traffic, with more than 155,000 unique visitors. In Tennessee alone, there have been 2,144 voter registrations in the past 36 hours, and 3,582 in the first week of October. Compare that to the 2,811 registrations in the entire month of September.
Swift has been reluctant to voice any political opinions in the past. She states that she felt compelled to speak out after “several events in my life and in the world in the past two years.” In her post, she lays out her reasons for not supporting Marsha Blackburn, a Republican representative in Tennessee.
“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.”
Swift urged followers to head to Vote.org to register, noting that the deadline to do so in Tennessee is October 9. She also said that she has voted for women in the past, but is unwilling to support Blackburn because of her stance on gay rights, equal pay, and other issues.
“These are not MY Tennessee values,” Swift wrote.
In her post, Swift also advocates for educating yourself and voting for the individual who 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,” she wrote.
After hearing about the 28-year old’s Instagram post, President Donald Trump weighed in on Swift. While he has claimed to be a fan in the past, tweeting that “Taylor is terrific,” he told reporters that he likes the singer about 25 percent less now that she has endorsed Democrats. Trump also stated that he thought Blackburn has done a “great job.”
So far, Swift’s post has reached 1,683,211 likes on Instagram.