Celebrities have become powerful players in the realm of politics; their ability to influence the public has made them pivotal figures in the election process.
According to a recent study from Harvard University, celebrities are found to significantly foster civic engagement by using their platforms to boost voter participation at unprecedented levels.
Take Taylor Swift, whose single Instagram story posted in 2018 promoting voter registration led to 250,000 newly registered voters in just three days, or how Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of former President Barack Obama in the 2008 election contributed an estimated one million votes to his win, according to economists.
Amidst the 2024 election, Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump posted AI-generated photos of Swift falsely endorsing him, the singer then took to Instagram to not only denounce the fake claim but passionately endorse Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, days after the presidential debate.
Swift posed with her cat in the photo and signed the post, “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” directly referring back to Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.”
The Swiftie vote has been one that presidential candidates have strived to get. Though the singer’s not known to get deeply involved in politics, in recent years Swift has become more vocal about her stances. In 2018, the year she made her first political endorsement, she acknowledged her initial hesitancy to discuss politics but saw the importance in speaking up about certain issues.
“I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent,” she said.
Award-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion also proudly showed her support for Harris when the star headlined her campaign rally in Atlanta, G.A. Shortly after her performance, Stallion endured online scrutiny for her endorsement.
She responded to the criticism during a break at her Lollapalooza set in Chicago, I.L.
“They was fake mad that I was popping it for Kamala. I don’t think they heard what she said,” Megan said. “Kamala said she wants a ceasefire. Kamala said she supports women’s rights. Kamala said y’all tired of those high … gas prices. Kamala said, ‘I’m for the people.’”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump condemned Harris for her use of celebrities in her campaign two days after the campaign rally event in Atlanta.
“Crazy Kamala Harris, voted the WORST Vice President in American history, needed a concert to bring people into the Atlanta arena, and they started leaving 5 minutes into her speech. I don’t need concerts or entertainers, I just have to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Music icon Beyoncé also expressed support for Harris when she granted her permission to use her hit song “Freedom” (feat. Kendrick Lamar) as Harris’ official campaign song. This choice followed her alleged threat to send a cease-and-desist letter to Trump, who used the song in a now-deleted social media post about his campaign.
Charli xcx summed up her support for Harris in her viral three-word post on X , “kamala IS brat,” a reference to her most recent album, “BRAT.” Not long after, the official Kamala HQ account on X changed their profile picture to match the arial font and lime green background color of xcx’s album.
Ashley Spillane, the author of the Harvard study mentioned above and an expert in politics, expressed the deep mistrust within traditional political sources that has led Generation Z to look to celebrities for guidance in an interview with ABC News.
“Right now, young voters have relatively low levels of trust in a lot of leaders and institutions, including traditional news media — but celebrities are often a rare exception,” she said.
Celebrity political endorsements are more than a century-old campaign tactic. However, the interconnectivity of social media has amplified the intensity of parasocial relationships more than ever before, with famous public figures now having the power to impact politics at the push of a button.
As a result, online users have progressively become more perceptive of the way celebrities approach political issues, either criticizing the nature of their public stances or their silence as a statement in and of itself.
Some celebrities’ lack of acknowledgment of the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict has led many users to block celebrities on platforms, including Swift, Zendaya and members of the Kardashian family. X user @literarycore posted a tweet in May about the movement, calling it #blockout2024. The post received three million views and over 46,000 likes.
After pop star Chappell Roan, a strong champion of LGBTQ+ rights, expressed in an interview with The Guardian that she felt it unnecessary to endorse a candidate for the upcoming presidential election, she was met with a wave of beratement.
“I have so many issues with our government in every way,” Roan said. “There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides. I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote – vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.”
Commenters clung to a small part of her quote: “There’s problems on both sides.” They criticized the star for implying there were equal amounts of issues with both political parties, given the drastic differences in the Democratic party’s and Republican party’s positions on the LGBTQ+ community.
This resulted in Roan clarifying her comments in two TikToks. In the first post, she calmly repeated her sentiments from the interview with the Guardian, urging people “to use critical thinking skills” and ensuring fans she is not voting for Trump. In the second post, an upset Roan elaborated on her reasons for not endorsing Harris.
In the video, Roan discussed her disagreement with the Democratic Party’s handling of both the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and transgender policies, of which she did not specify she disapproved.
“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, like, put my entire name [and] my entire project behind one.”
Though the most notable example to do so, Roan isn’t the only left-leaning celebrity who has publicly voiced her intentional lack of an endorsement. Cardi B withdrew her endorsement for President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election months before he dropped out of the race, despite previously endorsing him in the 2020 presidential election.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the politically outspoken rapper expressed regret over supporting Biden’s administration, discussing the United States’ funding of wars as a major source of frustration.
“[America] don’t pay for endless wars for countries that have been going through s*** for a very long time,” Cardi said. “There’s countries [where] kids are getting killed every single day, but because the [U.S.] won’t benefit from that country, they won’t help. I don’t like that America has this superhero cape on. We never did things to be superheroes. We did things for our own convenience.”
When celebrities decide to endorse—or consciously refrain from endorsing—a candidate, they wield a unique influence that can sway public opinion and voter turnout. In today’s digital landscape, the pressure on public figures to comment on political matters has intensified, complicating the line between advocacy and personal beliefs. As audiences demand quick, clear stances on complex issues, nuanced political discussions become harder to sustain in the online spotlight.
