Taylor Swift is one of the most influential celebrities of our generation as she has a huge following. Many of her fans have been waiting a long time for her to voice her opinion on the current state of politics. With under a month until the critical midterm elections, Swift spoke and what a voice she had.
In a lengthy Instagram caption, Swift endorsed Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper from her adopted home state of Tennessee. The Singer stated that while trying to support women running for office, she could not bring herself to consider voting for the female candidate, Marsha Blackburn, as “her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies” her. This referenced Blackburn’s opposition to not only equal pay for women, but also the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Even more, Blackburn is in favor of the right to refuse service to homosexual couples and against the right of these couples to marry. Swift responded by saying: “these are not MY Tennessee values.” She asserted “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG… I believe that the systematic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening, and prevalent.”
In making this announcement, Taylor Swift showed all of us how to choose candidates that represent our values and also reiterated the importance of being an informed and active voter. Swift has a career and following unlike any other artist of this generation. This one post has already had a profound effect likely to continue. Given her stature and the magnitude of her platform, it is extremely meaningful that she is reaching out to her 112,000,000 Instagram followers. This is truly an effectual method of contacting a wide audience in today’s world.
An especially important part of Swift’s writing is where she urged readers to get to the polls on November 6: “so many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count.” In fact, Vote.org has already revealed to Buzzfeed News that the amount of voting registrants in Tennessee was 2,144 in the 24 hours following the post being uploaded, which was an increase from the 2,811 new Tennessee voters they had previously seen for the entire month of September and the mere 951 in August. There was a total of 65,000 voter registrations nationally in the 24 hours since the post- a considerable rise from the 59,669 in August.
However, Taylor Swift didn’t stop there. At the American Music Awards, she was awarded with Artist of the Year and used her acceptance speech to further reinforce her message. Swift addressed viewers by saying “This award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people, and you know what else is voted on by the people? It is the midterm elections on November 6. Get out and vote.”
Taylor Swift is voting, and you should too. Make your voice heard and vote on November 6 for the candidates whose values align with your own, and whom you believe will make the changes you want to see.