Since her first album was released to the world in fall of 2006, Taylor Swift has continued to climb her way up the ladder of the music industry and has succeeded in making herself a household name. Whether you love or hate her, you cannot deny the power of the voice that she has created for herself throughout the past 12 years. One way that Swift connects with her fans and expresses this voice is through her social media. She currently has an Instagram following of 112 million fans from around the world. On October 7, 2018 for the very first time, Swift used this largely influential platform to speak out about politics. She discussed the upcoming November 6th elections and the necessity of people going out to vote.

In this post, Swift, a registered Tennessee voter, mentions her political views stating that she has and will continue to vote for whoever she thinks will protect the rights that she believes in. Among these are the rights of the LGBTQ community and the belief that “any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is wrong.” Later in the post, Swift explains that, although she supports having women in office, she will not be voting for Tennessee Republican Senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn, because she does not possess the same views and values as Swift. Swift provides evidence of this by reciting Blackburn’s voting history in Congress which goes against many of the rights that Swift had earlier mentioned she believed were important. Instead, Swift endorses Senate candidate, Phil Bredesen, and House candidate, Jim Cooper.

Despite these endorsements, Swift does not tell her millions of followers that they too should vote for these men; instead, she encourages them to educate themselves on their candidates and choose the people that they believe will best embody their own values and who they think will best represent them. She ends her post by stating that everyone’s vote is important and that the final day for voter registration is October 9th. Following Swift’s post, NBC news reported that Vote.com had declared that between Sunday, October 7, when Swift published her post, and Tuesday, October 9, 65,000 people between the ages of 18-29 and 40,000 people between the ages of 30-70+ registered to vote in their state. Taylor has since posted again on October 17 to remind her followers to go out and vote, even encouraging them to take advantage of early voting. Swift’s posts have been re-posted on the Instagram stories of many popular accounts including those of her back-up singers and dancers on her highly successful Reputation Stadium Tour. At this point in her life and career, no one can deny that Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with.