As election day edges closer, the number of celebrities openly endorsing presidential candidates is growing larger. Professional athletes, CEOs, musicians, movie stars and social media personalities are using their platforms to spread the word, not just on voter registration, but on who the influencers are voting for as well.
With the 2024 presidential election coming up on Nov. 5, it’s a vocal battle between the two political parties — former President Donald Trump of the Republicans and Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democrats. Taylor Swift’s post endorsing Harris on Instagram comes alongside a massive push from both political sides in trying to win the votes of Gen Z and other first-time voters.
Bradley Bettridge, a part-time political science professor at LPC, gave his thoughts on how Swift’s initial endorsement of Harris right after the presidential debate on Sept. 10 could affect the voting patterns of this election.
“My guess is it will be, in a small way, favorable to Harris. I think it would have been probably more impactful, actually, if she had come out in favor of Trump, which I don’t think she would have done,“ Bettridge said. “But if she had done that, I think it may have had more of an effect on the election the other way…because I think a lot of Taylor Swift’s younger supporters were likely to support Harris regardless.”
Since Harris’ presidential campaign announcement in July, some of her endorsers also include Stephen Curry, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo, Bill Nye, film director Spike Lee, actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Barbra Streisand, “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill and Bruce Springsteen.
Liz Cheney, Republican and daughter of controversial former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also come out and endorsed Harris herself.
On Trump’s end, some of his endorsers include CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and owner of X (formally known as Twitter) Elon Musk, Kanye West, alt-tech Rumble streamer Sneako, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, “Shazam!” actor Zachary Levi, Kid Rock and Brittney Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
We’ve gotten to the point on social media where targeting the youth is making “GigaChad” edits of both presidential candidates or using clips of both parties clowning on the other, because that’s what gets views. Actually, if you’re reading this, you should probably look at both Harris’ and Trump’s TikTok comment sections and see the types of people who are commenting by clicking on their profile. I guarantee you, you’ll see a trend of middle-aged Americans, Trump “supporters” who don’t even live in the U.S. and straight-up little kids.
One example of catering to the youth that I find particularly funny is Trump’s social media team posting a TikTok using Nettspend’s “nothing like uuu” instrumental, a song notorious in the underground rap scene. While I personally love the instrumental which samples Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” and the music video directed by Ayodeji, I hate Nettspend’s flow, delivery and content of his lyrics. Look them up yourself. The song appeared with a compilation of TikTok star Bryce Hall, the Nelk Boys and Nicky Jam endorsing Trump at his Las Vegas campaign rally. It feels like the most satiric attempt at a political campaign ever, but it’s actually unironic.
Not to mention Adin Ross’ collaboration stream on the livestreaming platform Kick. In the stream, he presented Trump with a Rolex and a Tesla Cybertruck with a Trump-themed wrap to brown-nose him—which, by the way, exceeds the $3,300 federal limit on individual campaign contributions. Trump couldn’t even take them if he wanted to. Also, Lil Pump has been trying to make a resurgence, tweeting expletives at Swift while professing his support for Trump. His last big song was in 2018 with Kanye West, who’s been supporting Trump for years and has faced controversy with his anti-semitic remarks.
“I think this also shows Donald Trump has been trying to get in with a lot of particularly younger men, and he’s been making some inroads with YouTubers and things that appeal to younger, white, Black, Hispanic men,” Bettridge said. “(Trump is) trying to sort of make the case for masculinity, entrepreneurship and low taxes, that kind of stuff. And I think this kind of ties into that, Trump is sort of embracing that kind of culture and trying to argue for why in particular, young men should support him.”
Bryan Cranston, known for his role as Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad, appeared on Oprah’s Unite for America livestreaming event, joined by other Hollywood A-listers Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Julia Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross and Meryl Streep to openly support Harris on Sept. 19.
“I have never felt this much joy and optimism in a campaign in a long time, so I’m just so appreciative of Kamala to be able to bring back that sense of optimism and the squash the cynicism and the vitriol and the rank that seems to be floating all around Washington,” Cranston said, “and I hope that we’re gonna ride this wave into Washington. I’m here, I’m here to support, I can’t be happier than this candidate. I think she’s going to be a terrific president.”
As for those of you out there that say they’re not voting, it’s an understandable take.
“This has been a narrative that has existed for every election…that is not new. Obviously, back in 2016 when it was Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump, there were a lot of people that looked at Hilly Clinton’s history and said, that’s not something I would like to do,” Bettridge said. “I think the challenge with that is that we exist in a two party system…we’re always making a decision between the two main parties that have to appeal to a broader person, a broader array of people.” It invariably becomes what many American citizens consider a choice ‘between the lesser of two evils.’
“There are big differences between these two candidates on a lot of things, whether you care about abortion rights, LGBTQ issues, trade or certain protections for women with children. I’m looking at some of the policies in the Middle East, you might say, actually, there’s a lot of things that they do similar, but there’s a lot of things on gay rights, immigration, health care, where they’re very different,” Bettridge said.
When celebrities use their influence for politics, typically they use their influence for issue-based advocacy, persuading their audience and encouraging political mobilization.
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, professionally known as Chappell Roan, has been thrown into the spotlight as one the industry’s new big artists of the past year. However, she’s recently been hounded by media outlets and young fans about why she hasn’t endorsed anyone yet.
When asked if a hypothetical Roan endorsement would affect her decision to vote, LPC student Evelyn Holtz said, “I don’t base my decisions based off of what celebrities think, because I think while they have influence in political topics, they shouldn’t be what I base my decision off of. I know recently [Roan] was like, ‘I’m not going to endorse anybody,’ but I think it’s fine that she stands on that topic personally. I don’t think celebrities should be obligated to do that, people should be obligated to do their own research.”
Roan recently posted to her TikTok on Sept. 25, saying that while her vote is going to Harris, she still does not endorse either presidential candidate due to their policies.
“Endorsing and voting are completely different. I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with, like, policies. Like obviously, f— the policies of the right, but also, f— some of the policies on the left,” Roan said. “That’s why I can’t endorse, that’s why I can’t put my entire name and my entire project behind one. I’m not gonna settle for what the options that are in front of me, and you’re not gonna make me feel bad for that.”
“Voting is all we have right now in the system,” she said. “And so I encourage it yet again, vote for who — in your mind — is the best option for what we have right now. Because that’s all we can do.”
Either way, everyone is persuading us to vote. If it is a constitutional right that we have the chance to use once every four years, why not use it?
Get uncomfortable. Question everything you see. Don’t be complacent, taking everything you see and hear at face value. Everything has context and nuance.
Come Nov. 5, don’t just let these people decide your vote for you — decide for yourself and what you stand for.
Celebrity endorsements from both sides might affect the election, even slightly. In reality though, it’s your vote that counts.
