Swift Urges Fans to Vote, 337K Move to Obey

"The Swift Effect" is real, as evidenced by the more than 330,000 people who clicked on Taylor Swift's link directing them to vote.gov, which helps with voter registration. Swift shared the custom URL while endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris immediately following Tuesday's debate. She encouraged her followers to get registered, do their own research, and make their own choice. As of 2pm ET Wednesday, a total of 337,826 people had visited vote.gov through Swift's URL, NBC News reports, citing data from the General Services Administration, which oversees the site.

Separately, Google data also shows "an uptick in the number of people headed to the search engine to figure out how to [register to vote]" around the time of Swift's endorsement, writes Philip Bump at the Washington Post, adding "the surge overlapped with a big spike in searches for Swift herself." According to Bump, Swift, arguably the most famous person in the world, is "better positioned to have a political impact now than in past election cycles" because she's grown more famous, is viewed more positively, and her fan base has aged to and past voting age. Swift also urged fans over 18 to register to vote at the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday, where her pop reign continued. (More Taylor Swift stories.)