US Election 2024: Do celebrity endorsements impact the race for the White House?

• Will celebrity endorsements help Harris and Trump?

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The lead in the race for the White House has changed hands between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump several times on the Betfair Exchange and we may be in too close to call territory all the way to voting day.

Both candidates are determined to do whatever it takes to give themselves the best chance of winning the White House.

Will Taylor Swift help Kamala Harris win the election?

Harris became the favourite during her debate against Trump, which she was widely considered to have won emphatically, and immediately afterward recevied the celebrity endorsement that most American politicians covet - Taylor Swift.

With her millions of devoted fans, an endorsement from Swift was the one the Democratic campaign for 2024 was keen to get. Trump was irked, and hit back at the singer, as Paul Krishnamurty discussed in his in-depth article this week.

Later this week, Harris will team-up with Oprah Winfrey for a live stream event that will target voters in swing states such as Georgia where the rapper Megan Thee Stallion performed at a Harris rally earlier this year.

But do celebrity endorsements matter?

First of all, let's remember that Joe Biden received the opposite of a celebrity endorsement this summer when prominent Democratic Party supporter and fundraiser George Clooney called for Biden to stand aside. The actor's New York Times op-ed was well argued and dealt Biden a significant blow as he tried to stay in the race.

Few celebrities like Trump and he doesn't care

What do previous elections tell us about the power of endorsements?

Back in 2016, Hillary Clinton appeared to have every celebrity in America supporting her bid to become the first woman president. Beyonce, Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen all endorsed Clinton.

Who did Trump have in his corner? Roseanne Barr, Kid Rock and Clint Eastwood. If famous people had been the only ones voting, Hillary would have cruised to victory.

But it turned out that Trump voters were not interested in being lectured by rich and celebrated figures in New York and Los Angeles. As we know, Trump upset the odds to win the presidency.

Eastwood a regular in the GOP corner

Further back, Eastwood was a consistent celebrity critic of Barack Obama during his two terms as president, as was a certain New York businessman turned reality TV star who warned of an uprising after Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012.

Speaking of Romney, the legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus supported his unsuccessful bid for the presidency, as did other PGA Tour players, but that choice ended up in the rough.

It is difficult to guage whether or not celebrity endorsements shape the outcome of an election.

In 2016, star power couldn't save Clinton's campaign but eight years on, it may still be different and crucial numbers of "childless cat ladies" could cast their votes for Harris in the swing states.

But isn't there something inherently patronising in the idea that voters are influenced by celebrities? Why would enjoying somebody's films or music mean you should listen to their views on economics or foreign policy? Voters are more clued-up than that.

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