The Taylor Swift effect continues: Early voting surges in Tennessee
Taylor Swift is making her presence known on voting day.
After breaking her political silence in October urging fans to vote, the 28-year-old singer continued to make the most of her platform. Swift shared Jimmy Fallon’s list of candidates “who voted to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions” and made a plea directly to her young fans.
“So, what is today? Tuesday. What was it that everyone is supposed to do today? What was it? Oh yeah, you gotta go vote today,” Swift began on her Instagram Story.
“I’m seeing a lot of underestimation of young voters and this new generation who now have the right to vote just in the last couple of years, but these are people who grew up post 9/11, they grew up with school shooting drills at their schools. These are people who want to vote,” she said to the camera. “It’s not enough to just want change. It’s not enough to just want to vote. You have go and make change by voting and today is your opportunity to do that. I promise you it feels so wonderful to exercise that right that you have. ”
As an extra incentive, Swift said she will be reposting photos of fans who tag her in their #justvoted selfies. (She made good on her promise posting dozens of shots.)
“Happy voting, you guys,” she smiled.
View this post on InstagramOMG she is beautifulllllllllllll??😍 @taylorswift
A post shared by Quang🇻🇳T.S Is So Gorgeous?? (@lnq.swifties) on Nov 6, 2018 at 2:44am PST
Swift is voting her home state of Tennessee, and she announced in October that she is throwing her support behind Phil Bredesen for the U.S. Senate and Jim Cooper for the U.S. House of Representatives, both Democrats.
Numbers released from the Democratic data firm TargetSmart show a surge in early voting numbers in Tennessee, according to the Washington Post. The firm breaks down voters into four groups, depending on how often they usually vote. “Super voters” are a group of registered voters that have voted most frequently. The midrange of voting propensity is called “frequent voters,” whereas people who have voted at least once are labeled “infrequent,” and those who have never voted at all make up a category of their own.
According to TargetSmart, Tennessee’s share of new and infrequent voters doubled in early voting compared with four years ago. As the Washington Post notes, Tennessee had one of the lowest densities of infrequent and new voters in 2014; however, Swift’s encouragement to her young fans can’t be overlooked.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT
Swift also got credit for a spike in voter registration in Tennessee following her initial Instagram post.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
‘A Star Is Born’ rating changed in New Zealand after teens ‘severely triggered’
‘Pamela Anderson doesn’t speak for me’: ‘Baywatch’ alum bashed for criticizing #MeToo