Did Taylor Swift just determine the fate of the United States?

If one is interested, the second presidential debate was held on Tuesday night between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Well, to be fair while it was the second presidential debate, it was the first between Trump and Harris. Who won and who lost the debate is up for, well...debate. You can decide that for yourself.

Perhaps the most important thing to happen on Tuesday night in terms of November's presidential election came after the debate, however. Taylor Swift took to Instagram to tell her 283 million followers (and that is just on IG alone) that she is endorsing Harris. If any non-politician could change the outcome of an election, that would be Swift.

Her fanbase is so devoted to her that they are likely to do things that might not otherwise. That does not mean they wouldn't have voted for Harris (or Trump if they did not agree with what Swift said), but that they voted at all. I am sure there are studies that show what percentage of Swifties vote, but if it is anything like the general population, the voter turnout is not high enough.

Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris could change the outcome of the presidential election

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of registered voters took part in the 2020 presidential election. That means, of course, 34 percent of voters chose not to cast their ballot. That is a bit ridiculous.

The issue is that the 66 percent was much higher than in many previous presidential election cycles. In 2016, the percentage was 60 and in 2012 it was 58.6. If Swifties are moved to vote because their hero has endorsed a candidate and they want to follow in Swift's proverbial footsteps then they are also likely to vote for Harris.

Any increase in voter turnout due to what Swift posted on social media is probably going to help Harris. In what is expected to be an extremely close election, a nudge by Swift - as silly as it sounds - could have a huge impact on the outcome. Swift also smartly added in her IG post that people need to register now to be able to vote. The guess is we see a massive increase in voter registrations over the next few days.

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