Do Celebrity Endorsements Really Matter?

Around early September all the way to November of election year, you will see famous celebrities endorsing political figures. People may wonder how these endorsements may affect a presidential election. The whole idea of an endorsement is to get a person who doesn’t typically vote to vote or to sway a voter’s support for a different candidate. The impact of an endorsement solely relies on the popularity of the person endorsing. For example, an NFL player’s support for a candidate will have more of an impact than an average business person. This seems to be the case as looking at one of your favorite football players, you might seem to like the same candidate as him.

Endorsements haven’t affected any major elections until recents years. In 2008, Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama helped him gain popularity and overall win the primaries. Most recently, Taylor Swift made a generational impact on the last election. The day after Swift endorsed Kamala Harris, 400,000 people registered to vote. This turnout could’ve caused a major swing in important states bringing out people who don’t usually vote.

According to CNN, this endorsement did not help the democratic party as much as they needed. Even with the 400,000 new voters that registered, in 2020, that would’ve only been .2% of the voter turnout. Even with a historical impact on voter registration, it still did not help the democrats become victorious in the 2024 election.

Each party holds a National Committee convention where they ultimately confirm their party’s presidential candidate. Kamala Harris’ convention was way more electric than the Donald Trumps’ and the Republican Committee. Harris brought in well known celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Lil Jon,  and Steve Kerr. The Democratic committee had hopes that these celebrities would help sway voters and vote for the Democratic party. However, it did not make the impact they were hoping for.

Ultimately, these celebrities don’t make that big of a difference when it comes to the election. Vanity Fair claimed that people like Taylor Swift are liked for her music. They did a poll in Ohio and the results came back shocking. The poll said that 24% of voters were less enthusiastic about Harris as a candidate while 14% were more enthusiastic about the presidential nominee. 

In another four years when you see celebrities endorsements coming out, you will know that it won’t make a major difference in the election. It is always important to do your own research on the candidates and not to listen to your favorite celebrity for advice.

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