Celebrity Endorsements – Do They Really Make a Difference at the Ballot Box?

Photo by Lily Morgan

As the clock ticks down and the United States gets closer to election day, voters have been paying attention to celebrity endorsements, and are taking them into consideration as they decide which candidate to vote for.

Celebrity endorsements are an aspect of elections that can impact voters’ views. When it comes to voting, these endorsements can influence election results and the amount of attention a certain party receives, but are these endorsements needed?

Fans of popular stars value the opinions of their favorite artists and listen to what they express on social media or in interviews. Celebrities have huge platforms full of beloved fans and can reach large audiences of easily influenced people.

While preparing for the upcoming election, celebrities have endorsed candidates and others have declined to make an endorsement. These have already shown results in voter registration and have started discussions about the believed importance of endorsements from certain fans.

At the beginning of September, after pressure from fans across social media, Taylor Swift made an Instagram post where she endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. “I’ve done my research and I’ve made my choice,” stated Swift in said post. “Your research is yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.” This clearly stated her views and fans were relieved to see the endorsement.

The Harris-Walz campaign took this endorsement as a way to gain more votes and started selling Harris-Walz friendship bracelets based off the bracelets fans made at the recent “Era’s Tour.” Although this can be a way to bring more people to the polls in November, it can also be seen as convincing hardcore Taylor Swift fans to vote for a certain candidate just because Taylor Swift is. Could this possibly take away the freedom of making our own decisions on where to place votes?

According to CBS news, “Taylor Swift drove 405,999 visitors to vote.gov in 24 hours after Kamala Harris endorsement.” This endorsement made a quick impact to many voters for this upcoming election, but this is only one side of endorsements.

On the other hand, towards the end of September, Chappell Roan came to TikTok to explain why she made the choice to not endorse a candidate after being asked to endorse Harris and Walz.

“Actions speak louder than words, and actions speak louder than an endorsement,” Roan said in a TikTok video she posted. “There’s problems on both sides and I encourage people to use their critical thinking skills.”

After this statement, Roan received negative backlash from fans. This negative view on her statement comes from being uneducated. She simply believes that an endorsement isn’t necessary because of the issues both parties have, and this is clearly expressed in her statement. She explained that she will be voting for Harris, but she doesn’t feel the need to tell others to do the same.

Throughout the years, endorsements have been made for multiple candidates from multiple different celebrities. A memorable endorsement was when Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. This sparked a lot of conversation considering it being Winfrey’s first presidential endorsement. Although it sparked a big conversation, the endorsement only had estimated links to increased votes for Obama.

Celebrity endorsements can affect voters’ views, but it doesn’t specifically create a large change. “Few academic studies have documented a clear link between endorsements and voter behavior,” stated in an article by Northwestern University.

Endorsements have shown that impact can be made from celebrities during elections, but they aren’t needed in the long run. At the end of the day everyone still has their own personal views and not even a popular celebrity can take that away from them.