Can Celebrity Endorsements Win Elections?

Some argue celebrities can be seen as influencers who bolster engagement in elections amongst key and new generations of voters, whose endorsements could increasingly make the difference in winning them. 

Getting the turnout up: Celebrities can increase voter turnout in otherwise low voter participation in Western democracies. The USA’s voter turnout still ranks 31st out of 50 developed nations. In other words Republicans and Democrats alike have a massive number of disinterested Americans to persuade. The study at Harvard University suggested that recent celebrity endorsement from the likes of Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande bolstered engagement and turnout in elections, giving especially the Democrats a boost in that all important turnout result. 

Gen Z, the voting majority by 2028, are increasingly influenced by celebrities

The future of winning: Gen Z voters, who are predicted to become the voting majority by 2028, increasingly pay attention to celebrity endorsement. Taylor Swift’s recent Instagram ‘yes’ to a Kamala Presidency saw 400,000 people click the link to register to vote, suggesting that such online celeb campaigns could be the future way of targeting the Gen Z demographic 

More than just the vote: The “Swifties for Kamala” have reportedly raised $213,000 since July of this year, showing that celebrity endorsement involves more than just getting people to register. Swift’s quoting of J.D Vance’s remark about her as a “childless cat lady” in her endorsement post shows a more substantial engagement with prominent election figures that would pull those inspired voters to the Democrat cause. 

Celebrities do not necessarily address other important issues to voters beyond voting for the sake of voting, and endorsing Presidents does not necessarily indicate electoral success.

Below the threshold: A massive proportion of celebrity audiences are still under the voting age of 18, limiting the extent to which any endorsement could translate to present election wins. The appearances of Megan Thee Stallion and Bon Iver in Kamala’s rallies do seem to influence Gen Z to vote for the Democrats. Yet they are primarily entertainers, not politicians with influence to impact the election outcome.

Celebrities are primarily entertainers, not politicians with political and financial influence

Lacking Persuasion: The Democrat use of celebrities mirrors Republican collaborations with Amber Rose in their rallies and even influencers Logan Paul and Bryce Hall on YouTube. With all these celebrities (often the same ones in previous elections) competing for attention among young voters, especially young men, the younger generation of voters can feel unsurprised and overwhelmed by all these celebrity influences. Taylor Swift has endorsed the Democratic party previously and her endorsement is unlikely to garner millions of undecided voters.

No real backing: The consequences of Swift’s endorsements, alike other celebrities, only push people to register to vote. Both she and Kylie Jenner, in 2018 and 2020, respectively, called for their followers to register, which, in Swift’s case, still did not change the vote in the Democrats' favour. The substance of celebrity political commentary is perhaps a more ‘business safe’ call to turn to the ballot box than a convincing way to shift the vote in either direction.