Analysis | Star power in politics: Do celebrity endorsements work?

Celebrity endorsements can play a powerful role in political campaigns — and they could give Biden an edge in his reelection efforts. Photo collage by JACK SUNDBLAD, Staff Photographer

Celebrities have been endorsing political candidates for decades, and now, with stars so famous that they’ve become household names, celebrity endorsements have become more powerful to a campaign than ever before. 

Over a century ago in the 1920 presidential election, singer Al Jolson showed his support for Republican candidate Warren G. Harding in a song called “Hardy, You’re the Man for Us,” which featured promotional lyrics set to a catchy tune. 

The song features lines such as, “It’s Harding, lead the GOP, Harding, onto victory” and “We know we’ll always find you with Coolidge right behind you, and Coolidge never fails, you must agree,” which references former president Calvin Coolidge, who was also Harding’s running mate and vice president. 

Harding went on to win the presidency by nearly 75% of electoral votes and around 65% of the popular vote. 

Now, celebrities take to social media to advocate for their preferred candidates. 

Stars as big as Taylor Swift have posted endorsements to their Instagram accounts in hopes that it would sway their millions of social media followers to support a particular candidate. 

“I think when you have celebrities like Taylor Swift, someone who is incredibly influential, it can be both a good and bad thing,” said Griffin Dickman, a freshman political science major. “It can get people active in voting, more engaged with politics and have a better understanding of the world around them.” 

But, Dickman also recognizes the flaws in the use of star power.

“It can result in people blindly voting because of their celebrity and not actually educating themselves on the candidate and their history, qualifications and proposed policies,” added Dickman.

In October 2020, Biden posted an image of Swift holding a plate of “Biden/Harris 2020” cookies. This post earned nearly a million likes on the platform, and Biden jumped up a percent in the polls within the week following the post going up. 

Today’s celebrities can make a significant difference, influencing mass groups of voting Americans with just one click. With this much power, it could be possible that all either candidate needs to win this nail-biting election is a key celebrity endorsement.

“Candidates can use endorsements strategically to help capture more audiences,” Dickman said. “We’ve seen this with the use of TikTok, and more recently, Joe Biden’s post after the Super Bowl.” 

Dickman is referring to a meme that Biden posted of himself on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Some are speculating that this is a part of Biden’s plan to win over fans of Taylor Swift, who is dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce.

Author Cooper Lawrence, who has written a book about the effects of celebrity in politics, told BBC that “Hollywood leans liberal. That’s the history of celebrities and politics.” 

Biden was an example of this trend when he was endorsed by Swift, Madonna, Tom Hanks and Dwayne Johnson in the 2020 presidential election. 

Biden isn’t the first Democratic candidate to look to celebrities for a campaign boost. 

In 2008, what was nicknamed “The Oprah Factor” was said to be a deciding factor in the election of former president Barack Obama. Businesswoman and talk show host Oprah Winfrey raised millions for his campaign and consistently advocated for Obama throughout his run. 

A study done by Sage Journals labeled Winfrey as “no ordinary celebrity endorser.” They cited her status as the host of a show that garnered nearly 10 million viewers a day and her successful magazine publication, O, as the reason for her influential reach. 

The study points to polls that reflect the power of the “Oprah effect.” According to a Pew survey conducted in Sept. 2008, 60% of respondents said that they believed Oprah’s endorsement would help Obama’s campaign, while only 3% said that the support would be damaging to the campaign.  

Over a decade after the “Oprah effect” shook American culture, Biden may be looking for a similar boost in his 2024 re-election campaign.

For example, he has made stops on his reelection campaign to meet with social media influencers, and the president has also started promoting the usage of pro-Biden video content. 

Following the success of Swift’s support in the last election, which ignited over 35,000 voter registrations according to Vote.org, prominent Biden supporters like California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been suggesting that the pop star could make a big difference in Biden’s campaign efforts.