The night after the second presidential debate, the first between Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, mega super-star Taylor Swift took to Instagram and publicly endorsed Harris and Governer and Vice Presidential Running Mate Tim Walz in the 2024 election. While primarily supporting Harris, Swift also encouraged people to register to vote.
“The research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make,” Swift said.
Following the post, a study from The New York Times recorded that there were 406,000 more voter registrations across the United States within the first twenty-four hours of her post, using the link she provided.
Seniors Lissie Skrenta and Bella Munoz have reached out to young voters and recent Masters alumni, stressing the importance of registration and its impact on their future.
“Young voters are really fired up because they can tell that this is majorly going to affect their future,” Skrenta said.
Young voters can play a crucial role in the election, especially in swing states like North Carolina and Georgia. Tufts University recorded that in 2020, Georgia’s youth helped secure Biden’s win. Biden had only a slim margin of 11,779 votes.
“Voting is a privilege,” Skrenta said. “It is shameful because it has been so hard for people for so many years to vote, and it continues to be hard for so many people. It’s a privilege that all American citizens should practice if they can.”
Swift’s substantial and youthful audience significantly boosted registration numbers, showcasing the power of using a big platform for change.
Skrenta continued, “If you have a platform as big as Taylor Swift, use it for something you’re passionate about. Use it for good.”
Colleen Roche, Upper School history teacher, teaches the political science class and explains why these celebrity endorsements can significantly impact voter registrations.
“The number one predictor of how a person votes, particularly a young person, is their parents’ political beliefs. I could see a celebrity endorsement having a similar impact,” Roche said.
This phenomenon aligns with the concept of “parental transmission” explained by a scholar at Depauw University, in which parents influence the political beliefs of their children. Swift’s fan culture resembles this. As an influential public figure, whatever Taylor wants (in this case, people registering), translates into hundreds of thousands of Americans registering to vote.
While Swift endorsed Harris, CEO of Tesla, X, and SpaceX, Elon Musk endorsed former president Donald Trump at a rally on October 5.
“Trump is the only candidate to preserve democracy in America,” Musk said.
Trump and Musk share a strong alliance, with Musk previously chosen to lead Trump’s newly created government efficiency commission. This commission’s purpose was made unclear by Trump; his only explanation stated: “It will eliminate fraud and improper payments within the first 6th months of its formation.” Musk’s endorsement reached his more than 200 million followers through his platform on X.
In this presidential race, social media is vital for engaging young voters. We see posts from celebrities, but accounts like KamalaHQ (run by her team) use modern language and memes to increase youth participation. These videos can be a transparent way to understand who the candidates are and what they value, due to the easy language that young voters can understand.
KamalaHQ shares “debate highlights” and PSAs that resonate with the youth. For instance, her team posted an informational video summarizing the detrimental effects that Project 2025 would have on our country. Trump also has a TikTok account and posts his promises that if he was elected such as “delivering the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
These statements can draw attention to the youth who need reassurance that the candidate they elect in 2024 will uphold their values.
“In this age of social media and people following celebrities and politicians on things like Instagram, people feel a connection with them that they didn’t prior to this election,” Roche said.
