Good or Bad Press?
During the 2024 election, many celebrities told their fans that they were voting for Kamala Harris, but did this really help her in the end?
Many popular music artists such as Taylor Swift and Eminem told their fans that they voted for Kamala Harris. This created controversy about how people were really going to vote. This has been all over TikTok, with artists' speeches on why they are voting for Harris, but this did not help her win in the end. Opinions about these artists may have led Americans to change their vote. The less people like an artist, the less their endorsement will do any good for the candidate.
Lawrence Jackson , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“The endorsement by Ms. Swift, delivered minutes after Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump had stepped off the debate stage in Philadelphia, offers Ms. Harris an unrivaled celebrity backer and a tremendous shot of adrenaline to her campaign, especially with the younger voters she has been trying to attract,” according to The New York Times.
Swift may be a popular artist with the younger generation, but a wide variety of Americans and even Gen Z, do not support Ms. Swift and her career. This is also true with other artists who endorsed her, such as Eminem, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish.
It also did not help that many of Gen Z who supported Kamala were not old enough to vote. The ones that are old enough either did not vote or could not cancel out Republican voters.
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Shaleah Craighead , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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On the other hand, many of the artists who endorsed Donald Trump were not the most popular, but they were rappers or country artists, which grasped the attention of some younger voters.
“Watching the explosion of the country genre as a symptom and not a cause could have worked in the Democrats' favor, or at least helped offer an understanding that the youthful electorate wasn't moving left as they would have liked to assume,” said Marissa R. Moss, a writer from the Rolling Stone.
So, do these endorsements actually help politicians? The answer is no. In the end, it all comes down to how people feel when they are at the ballot box and how their morals lie.