Taylor backs Kamala: a history of celebrity endorsements

Just minutes after Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had finished their first presidential debate on Tuesday, pop star Taylor Swift confirmed her endorsement of the Democratic nominee to her 283m followers on Instagram.

While celebrity endorsements can largely pass by with little impact on the trajectory of a candidate, Swift’s has the potential to be one of the “most important celebrity endorsement we’ve ever seen of a presidential campaign” given her level of reach and influence, said Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.

What’s more, the race for the White House continues to look like a “tight one”, said Euronews, and Swift’s backing “could very well boost enthusiasm from younger voters”.

Elections in the US have “long drawn the influence of star power” but the effect can only be “squishy at best”, said History, and often it is the celebrity who has the most to gain from endorsements.

Which are the most notable endorsements?

Presidential celebrity endorsements stretch back to 1920, when Warren G. Harding became the “first celebrity-endorsed president” after movie stars Mary Pickford and Al Jolson backed him to become president, said Atlas Obscura.

At that time it was super-effective, with Harding gaining the “largest slice of the popular vote in history” and his “popularity remained sky-high throughout his time in office”.

Since then, celebrity endorsements have become a regular feature of presidential campaigns. Singer Frank Sinatra endorsed Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in his final run for office in 1944, as well as John F. Kennedy briefly before the relationship “fell apart”, said History. Sinatra later sided with Republicans and endorsed Ronald Reagan in his first run for office.

In more recent times, Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama in his campaigns from 2008, while Beyonce Knowles later backed Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and now Kamala Harris.

In the UK, the celebrity endorsement is less common, but probably hit its heyday with New Labour’s election in 1997, when the likes of Noel Gallagher, Sir Alex Ferguson, and even Ross Kemp publicly endorsed Tony Blair for prime minister.

Why do celebrities endorse political campaigns?

The key reason celebrities endorse politicians is because they believe it can “sway votes”, said Trevor Hughes at USA Today. 

In many ways, it would be easier for them not to say anything and “risk alienating fans”. Michael Jordan famously refused to endorse a Democratic candidate in his home state of North Carolina in 1990 because “Republicans buy sneakers, too”, but was later accused of putting “profit over principles”, said The Guardian.

Other celebrities, however, see politics as a “natural extension of their brand” and are therefore more willing to weigh in. That includes Swift, whose songs often contain sentiments around “sexism” and “gender-based double standards” so is likely to back a candidate with policies that align with her public views.

Do they work?

There is a sense that celebrity candidates can create a groundswell of enthusiasm for a candidate, but their effect on the final outcome is “hard to quantify” said The New Yorker.

Oprah’s endorsement of Obama is estimated to have had the most effect, with  claims from economists that she may have been “responsible for more than a million of Obama’s votes”.

But endorsements can also backfire. Those celebrities who endorsed Obama later endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and this may have contributed to the “elitist” label that she was given in Donald Trump’s “anti-celebrity campaign”.

There is certainly evidence that celebrity endorsement draws attention and engagement in politics, even if actual votes are hard to ascertain. Swift’s last post about elections in 2023 helped drive a “record of more than 30,000 people” to register to vote, said Hughes, and celebrities can “play an important role in encouraging first-time voters” to understand elections and register, even if they remain away from partisan politics.