Taylor Swift urges fans to vote in midterm elections at American Music Awards
Taylor Swift reportedly caused a spike in voter registrations both nationwide and in Tennessee when she broke her political silence Monday on Instagram, and the singer talked about politics again Tuesday at the American Music Awards. Swift was accepting the award for artist of the year when she urged viewers to vote.
Swift won three awards at the AMAs, but she saved politics for her last acceptance speech of the night. She said that every award she wins means something different to her and continued, "This time it represents encouragement and motivation for me to be better, work harder and make you guys proud as much as I possibly can ... so thank you for this incredible symbol of encouragement ... this award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people."
The singer echoed her own political Instagram post and said, "And you know what else is voted on by the people is the midterm elections on Nov. 6. Get out and vote. I love you guys."
Swift wrote in her Instagram announcement Monday that she is supporting Tennessee's Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, who is running against Republican Marsha Blackburn for Sen. Bob Corker's seat.
According to the group Vote.org, Swift's post to her 112 million Instagram followers seems to have "helped bring out young voters." "A majority of new registrations since Sunday have been from people between 18 and 29 years old," the group said in a release Tuesday. About 64,000 out of the 105,000 total new registrations nationwide since Sunday are in this age group.
For the month of October so far, 153,978 people have registered to vote. In the entire month of September, 190,178 people registered to vote.
In Tennessee, voter registration for October has already outstripped September registration figures. At this point, 5,183 have registered in Tennessee, compared to 2,811 for September.
The pop star -- who lived for several years in Tennessee -- told her Instagram followers that though she remained quiet in the past about her politics, she had to speak out against Blackburn because her "voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me." Swift added, "These are not MY Tennessee values." Swift objects to Blackburn's opposition to certain LGBTQ rights and her vote against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.
