Celebrity Impact on the 2020 Election

By Ammy y. '22

“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election. Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs,” singer-songwriter Taylor Swift wrote in V Magazine’s Thought Leaders Issue this October. With an accompanying platter of “BidenHarris2020” iced cookies, Swift was the latest in a series of celebrities to publicly endorse a presidential candidate this election season. On seemingly every social media platform verified names supported their candidate of choice on Instagram, tweeted encouragement to their followers to vote, and made their political opinions clear at rallies. 

Celebrities have always been a staple of the political cycle. The New York Times has speculated that in 2008, Oprah Winfrey's early and enthusiastic endorsement of then-candidate Barack Obama resulted in roughly 1 million additional votes for the former president. However, this year, more than any other, celebrities made their voices heard.  Countless musicians, actors, and athletes have encouraged fans to head to the polls, including Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, LeBron James, Selena Gomez, Ryan Reynolds, and the aforementioned Taylor Swift. 

The reason may be attempts to appeal to a new generation of voters this election cycle. While young voters have had historically low voter turnout compared to other age groups, they are also the most likely to follow popstars on social media. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that celebrities would work to sway the opinions of those that make up a majority of their fanbase. For example, eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter Billie Eilish took to Instagram to launch a voting initiative aimed at inspiring first-time voters. In a video to her fans, she encouraged them to text "BILLIE" to 50409 to register to vote in time for the November 3rd election, or to double-check the status of their registration. "It's basically a pledge," she explained. "Just because I think that I'm gonna need a promise from a lot of you guys, especially a lot of you new 18-year-olds. Like me, this is gonna be my first time voting. I used to not care about this kinda thing, and I think it's really, really important that you care... Register to vote. Please vote. It really, really matters." 

Along with the traditional celebrities, social media “influencers” have also used their sizable platforms to urge followers to partake in the election. While celebrities typically find fame through avenues like acting and singing, influencers become famous through social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok. David Dobrik, a popular YouTube personality known for giving away cars to friends and family, orchestrated a Tesla giveaway to motivate entrants to vote. Posting a picture of himself surrounded by five white Tesla Model 3s to Instagram, Dobrik gave simple instructions: hopeful Tesla-owners were to share his post on their account “stories,” tag a friend in the comments, and prove that they were registered to vote through HeadCount.org, a non-partisan group devoted to increasing voting rolls. By directing his fans to a voter-registration portal run by HeadCount.org, the New York-based organization was able to count how many people registered from Dobrik’s Instagram post: an unprecedented 120,000. It was the single largest voting drive in the 16-year history of HeadCount. 

Although celebrities and influencers have not always been able to convince fans to vote for the candidates of their choice, their impact on elections cannot be denied. Large spikes in numbers of young voters headed to the polls can almost certainly be attributed to encouragement from public figures. With the rising power of social media, it looks like this impact will only increase in future elections.