US: Swift announced in an Instagram post that she is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris

US: Experts have informed Newsweek that the real effect of Taylor Swift’s support for Kamala Harris is not so much in raising support for the Democrats as it is in encouraging voter participation.

Swift said on Instagram that she was supporting the vice president after the first debate between Harris and former president Donald Trump last month.

“In the 2024 presidential election, Tim Walz and Kamala Harris get my vote. I am voting for @kamalaharris because I think she is a fighter for the rights and issues that need to be supported. We can do so much more in this nation if we are led by calm rather than turmoil, and I think she is a steady-handed, brilliant leader,” she added.

She encouraged her followers to register to vote as well. “Keep in mind that you must be registered to vote! I also think casting a ballot early is considerably simpler. In my piece, I’ll provide a link to register and information on early voting days.” She also provided a link to Vote.gov, a website that assists voters with registering and checking the status of their registration and is maintained by the General Services Administration and Election Assistance Commission, two federal organizations.

“Childless Cat Lady” is how the celebrity ended her letter, alluding to remarks made in 2021 by Republican vice presidential contender Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who called top Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”

Weeks of conjecture preceded her endorsement, but polling suggests it may not have had the intended impact.

As per a Quinnipiac University survey conducted from September 19 to 22, over 76% of potential voters stated that Taylor Swift’s support for Kamala Harris has no effect on their enthusiasm towards her candidacy. Conversely, 9% of respondents stated that it increases their enthusiasm, and 13% said it decreases their enthusiasm.

In the meanwhile, according to a September 15 Ipsos/ABC News poll, over 81% of respondents said that Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Harris would have no impact on their decision to vote.

Only 6% of respondents said that Swift’s endorsement has increased their likelihood to vote for Harris, while 13% stated that it has decreased their likelihood to support the Democratic ticket.

Several analysts, however, believe that Swift’s backing of Harris won’t necessarily translate into more people voting for the Democrats in November.

Dafydd Townley, an American politics professor at the University of Portsmouth, told Newsweek earlier this month that “although Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris—and her backhanded response to JD Vance’s denigration of female cat owners—has caught the headlines, it is unlikely to cause a considerable surge in Harris’ electability.” “The vast majority of Swifties registered to vote, if not all of them, would have likely voted for Harris before the endorsement.”

Increased voter registration, in the opinion of pollster Tom Bonier, is a more accurate indicator of the pop star’s endorsement’s influence.

“The biggest likely impact of the endorsement is the registration and mobilization of people who weren’t already registered,” he wrote in an article on X. “Beyond that, as I’ve mentioned before, asking people if a celebrity influences their vote is going to produce predictable results, and isn’t necessarily indicative of the actual impact.”

The Politics of Generation Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape our Democracy author Melissa Deckman, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, concurred, telling Newsweek that “most Americans don’t rely on celebrity endorsements to make their presidential vote choices.”

“I think Tom Bonier makes a very good point—there has been a spike in voter registration among younger Americans,” she said.

According to the New York Times, there was a 585 percent increase in voters utilizing Vote.gov’s registration and verification facilities in the three hours after Taylor Swift’s tweet on Tuesday, September 10, from 9 p.m. to midnight ET, compared to the same period over the previous eight days. About 406,000 individuals clicked on Swift’s link during the course of the next day, accounting for almost half of the 727,000 visits to Vote.gov. In contrast, the website had 30,000 visits per day on average between September 3 and September 9.

Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said in a statement that Swift’s “impact on voter registration is undeniable.” She went on, “It’s crucial to keep in mind that Taylor’s work acts as a template that anyone with a platform may use to inspire Americans to join in civic life. Ultimately, each and every American has the ability to impact others by encouraging them to register, cast a ballot, and safeguard their right to vote.”

Swift has previously encouraged more people to register to vote. The singer encouraged her 272 million Instagram followers to register to vote in a brief message she shared in 2023. Vote.org reports that over 35,000 people registered as a result of the article. Swift’s 2016 Instagram photo of herself in line to cast a ballot is also credited for encouraging more people to register to vote.

Deckman, however, expressed optimism that Swift’s support will have an effect that goes beyond raising voter turnout this year.

According to her statement to Newsweek, Swift might be in a good position to get support among Gen Z voters “that may have important marginal effects in close battleground states.”

Eight million more Gen Z members are now able to vote than there were during the last presidential election. “With nearly 300 million Instagram followers, she is arguably even more popular than she was in 2020,” Deckman said.

According to a July 29 Newsweek/Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of 1,750 registered voters, 34% of Gen Z voters said they would be “more likely” or “significantly more likely” to support a politician sponsored by Swift. Gen Z members can only be 27 years old since their birth years fell between 1997 and 2012.

Political scientist Thomas Gift, who oversees University College London’s Center of U.S. Politics, is pessimistic about voters who have just registered to vote showing up at the polls in November.

“Every year, there are rumors that a large number of young people will cast ballots in this election. The issue is that it doesn’t happen very often. Harris may benefit from Taylor Swift’s support on the margins. However, we must not undervalue the degree of voter indifference among this particular group, he said Newsweek.

Vote.org is outdated According to USA TODAY, over 80% of those they register vote in the next election.