Republicans and conservatives used to complain about celebrity involvement in politics, even though the party brought us President Ronald Reagan and Congressmen Sonny Bono and Fred Grandy. After the Republican Party nominated a TV reality show host with no public service experience for president in 2016, conservative criticism of entertainers continued, but generally did not include eventual President Donald Trump.
Scholars have conducted much research into the positive effects of celebrity political endorsement. By positive effects, I mean research that has shown that under the right circumstances, celebrity endorsements of political candidates and beliefs can influence the public to agree with celebrity preferences. There is also evidence that taking political positions can actually improve the celebrity’s standing in the public eye. On the other hand, some research has found minimal or no impact of celebrity political support.
Lately, I’ve become interested in individuals where celebrity political endorsements don’t seem to work. Is there a group of potential voters who will completely dismiss celebrity endorsements and instead rely solely on other methods to make their decision? To find out, I looked at some poll data that my Bowling Green State University (BGSU) colleague Melissa Miller and I collected just before the 2016 Ohio presidential primary. The survey was conducted by Zogby Analytics on October 16-17, 2015 and included 804 likely voters for the 2016 general election and has an error rate of 3.5 percentage points. While the data isn’t new, it’s still useful in helping us understand the important role of celebrities in politics.
Respondents were asked whether the president’s hypothetical endorsement of each of the seven celebrities would increase, decrease, or have no effect on their likelihood of voting for the candidate. Celebrities whose potential support was measured included George Clooney, Beyoncé, Trace Adkins, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Nugent, Eva Longoria and Lena Dunham. These celebrities were chosen for their racial, gender, party, and ideological diversity. If a voter was to be influenced by a celebrity, surely one of them should be. In each case, the overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that celebrity endorsements would have no effect, although there were circumstances in which the celebrities could motivate voting.
To investigate this further, I decided to look at those who said the potential endorsement of each of the seven celebrities would not affect their own voice. Think of these respondents as “celebrity-resistant” or at least “celebrity-indifferent.” Exactly 46.1 percent of those surveyed said that any single endorsement by the celebrity would not affect their vote. Who are these people?
First, they are more likely to be women than men (48.1 percent to 41.8 percent) and are more likely to have no college degree than a college degree (48.9 percent to 43.2 percent). There were no differences in terms of age, but those not affected by celebrity endorsements were from the higher income brackets measured. African Americans (37 percent) were also significantly less likely to be unaffected by any celebrity endorsements than others (47.1 percent). Regarding religion, those who identified as born again were significantly less likely to be unaffected by affirmations than others (43.3 percent to 55.2 percent).
There were also a number of significant differences in terms of political orientation. Union members were much more likely than others not to be influenced by celebrity endorsements (53.1 percent to 44.6 percent). Those who identify as independent were about 10 percentage points more likely not to have been touched by celebrities than those who identify as Democrats or Republicans. Those who describe themselves as moderate (56.1 percent) were far more likely to be unaffected by celebrity endorsements than conservatives (38 percent) or liberals (41.9 percent).
Some of these differences are easier to explain than others. This time, let’s start with the political variables. Independents and moderates are likely to be aware of celebrities’ partisan political and ideological orientations, most of whom are left-leaning and Democrat-leaning, and thus may resent their endorsement, just as they may have rejected party affiliation and consistent ideological preferences altogether. Independents and moderates may view celebrity endorsements primarily as proxies for Democratic and Liberal endorsements. On the other hand, union members may be accustomed to taking political cues from union leaders and may therefore resist celebrity endorsements.
In terms of demographic variables, the difference between Blacks and other respondents is likely due to the presence of the hypothetical endorsement of Oprah Winfrey, one of the most consistently successful and powerful African American celebrities of all time. The other differences are a bit more difficult to explain. Are women naturally more skeptical of celebrities? Is it the born again fewer? Why are college-educated respondents less likely to be celebrity-resistant? Is common sense more important than expertise when it comes to celebrity resistance? A possible partial explanation is that some of these demographic characteristics correlate and interact with other political and social variables, creating a complex mix that needs to be sorted out in future research.
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Of course, in addition to demographic and political characteristics, there are a number of factors that can influence attitudes towards entertainment and politics, including media preferences, particularly social media use. Unfortunately, the available survey data does not include measures on this, but future research needs to do so. It’s also possible that there are some people who simply refuse to participate in celebrity culture for idiosyncratic reasons that may not show up in survey research.
The data reviewed here suggests that there is a core group of American voters who are untouched by celebrities. However, they appear to be a minority of voters. While certain demographics and political beliefs help explain who is resistant or indifferent to celebrities, we cannot say that these characteristics make the person unaffected by any celebrity endorsements. As celebrity involvement in politics continues to increase, will more voters become more celebrity-resistant, or at least more critical? Will there be more prominent candidates and endorsements from left and right? Since the next election is always around the corner, we don’t have to wait long to find out.
David J. Jackson is Professor of Political Science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. His main area of research is the relationship between entertainment and politics, specifically the role of celebrities in politics. He has also written about the Polish diaspora in North America and the electoral strategies of organized labor in the US. He is the author of the book Entertainment and Politics.
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