Blurred Lines: The Unhealthy Fusion of Politician and Celebrity
Beyoncé (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter) at Kamala Harris’ Houston Rally on Oct. 25, 2024, where she endorsed Harris for the presidency. Courtesy of Kamala Harris.
“I will be casting my vote for…”
Over the past year, anyone on social media was sure to tap through countless posts containing these seven words, followed by the names Kamala Harris or Donald Trump—for the most part. This phrase was all over the Internet this election season, whether in an Instagram caption or an X post. After months of pressure from constituents, celebrity endorsements began to flood social media in the leadup to the 2024 election, with everyone from Taylor Swift to Logan Paul declaring their side. In the United States, where only 66% of the eligible voting population went to the polls in the 2020 presidential election, celebrity endorsements are increasingly being leveraged in hopes of “hyping up” young and first-time voters to vote for specific candidates.
Celebrity involvement in politics is not new. In fact, celebrity endorsements have been around for over 100 years, tracing back to Warren G. Harding’s 1920 election campaign, during which actor Al Jolson endorsed him. Now, we see that the campaign trail has shifted to social media, with Instagram, X, and TikTok becoming arguably the most popular and effective mediums for politicians to connect with young voters. This change was especially evident during the 2020 election when get-out-the-vote methods such as door-knocking could not happen safely. Instead, mobilization efforts moved to social media, as reflected in the dramatic increase in social media usage by campaigns during 2020 compared to 2016.
This shift has now opened the door for more online engagement from nonpolitical figures—such as celebrities—in political campaigns, which has made campaigning easier and more convenient than ever before. Organizing a 15-second endorsement video is less logistically complicated than organizing an in-person event. However, this change has also resulted in an increased reliance on celebrity approval, forcing politicians to pay undue attention to appeasing celebrities rather than their constituents. The relationship forming between politicians and celebrities is reciprocal and symbiotic. Politicians use celebrities’ fan bases to gain attention and maintain relevance, and celebrities use politicians to bolster their own image in the eyes of their politically active fans.
Politicians have also begun to utilize social media to establish their presence in popular culture and grow the reach of their campaigns. More politicians are actively following Internet trends, with some even creating their own. For example, Harris’s popular Kamala HQ Instagram and TikTok accounts utilized trends such as “Brat summer” to gain traction. Her social media accounts also adopted memes like “Momala” and the coconut tree soundbite to “meme-ify” Harris’s image. While these memes were created by other TikTok users, the official Kamala HQ accounts reclaimed and redirected their tone, branding them part of the campaign. By shifting the media’s attention away from Internet mockery and toward an emphasis on her good humor, Harris showed Americans that she could make fun of herself.
However, as government leaders become increasingly and informally accessible to their constituencies, such social media habits ultimately delegitimize the role of politicians, bringing more focus to a politician’s “vibe” than their actual policy. The shift of the bully pulpit from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats to Trump’s X sprees highlights how casual the president’s communication with constituents has become. Scrolling through social media used to be an escape from the political sector, but now, social media is its home base.
This is not to say that these methods of informal communication are ineffective. Though older voters may raise an eyebrow at these efforts, in reality, these maneuvers led to Harris’s TikTok account gaining over two million followers in 24 hours.
The incorporation of popular culture is not new, but its importance in candidate selection has increased as technology and social media have grown. In fact, many politicians got their start in popular culture through film and TV, such as former California governor and The Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger and former President and actor Ronald Reagan. President-elect Donald Trump himself had a long celebrity career as the star of the popular 2000s reality show The Apprentice. By already being established cultural figures before entering politics, these men’s campaigns were supported not only by approving constituents but also by their fan bases.
We can see a similar trend forming with politicians now as they, too, work to appeal to fan bases, drawing from the followings of others. Rather than relying on conventional forms of media such as broadcast and news outlets, politicians choose to utilize celebrities and influencers in campaign messaging to appeal to celebrity fan bases as they aim to build their own base of supporters. Yes, politicians have historically aspired to gain support from all types of bases to reach as many constituents as possible, but the impact of their methods has become increasingly influential on election outcomes. This is evident as we look back on the most recent election cycle, where Trump has a surprisingly high turnout from Gen Z voters, with his success being cited to his appearances on podcasts and shows catered to young men, or “the bro vote,” such as the shows The Joe Rogan Experience and This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von. The presidential candidates chose collaborators who directly aligned with their supporters’ demographics: for Harris, young women, and for Trump, white men. For example, Harris received endorsements from music industry powerhouses Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, the latter of whom made an appearance at her rally in Houston on October 25, while Trump collaborated with TikTok and YouTube stars Logan Paul and Bryce Hall.
Other examples of politicians’ overlap with celebrities and influencers can be seen beyond the main social media platforms. Harris’s appearance on the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy” clearly juxtaposes those of recent guests, which include Anna Kendrick, Post Malone, Reese Witherspoon, and Miley Cyrus—all famous personalities. By working with celebrities, the candidates leech on their appeal and popularity, attracting support from these stars’ fan bases, which are composed of mostly young and first-time voters that align more closely with the politician’s respective political agendas and worldviews. However, at the end of the day, the celebrities that the candidates collaborate with are singers, actors, or entertainers—they are not political scientists or experts. These appearances and collaborations have painted politics in America to be more similar to an entertaining reality show competition rather than an impactful space with real-life effects.
However, the amplified presence of politics on social media does have its benefits. For example, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez often uses Instagram’s livestream feature to talk directly to constituents and answer their questions. Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, along with President Joe Biden, used this same feature to increase access to their debate rallies.
While social media increases communication and interaction with the American people, it is the resulting shift in the perception of politicians that can lead to a misguided—and even implicit—conflation of celebrities with political leaders. Viewing a video message from a politician directly under a clip of your favorite DIY YouTuber brings two unaffiliated worlds together as one. Promoting a campaign ad next to a slime tutorial not only delegitimizes the importance of politics and civic engagement but also the image of the politicians themselves to a meme, influencer, or entertainment object, further threatening how politics is viewed and how voters gain information.
As the results of the 2024 presidential election are now confirmed, we can see that these A-listers and trends did not have as large of an impact on the results as Harris had hoped. We can interpret Trump’s win as a sign that the line between celebrity and politician has been so blurred that we now not only listen to celebrities for political endorsements but trust them with the presidency. But what can future presidential candidates do now to win voters back? The shift in the fundamentals and strategies of presidential campaigns over the last eight years suggests that politicians may continue to enter new spheres—beyond social media—to reach for new supporters, but we’ll have to wait four years to see what role politicians try to take on next.
Nadia Knoblauch (BC ’28) is a staff writer for CPR from Oviedo, Florida. She is studying political science and hopes to pursue a career in journalism. Last year, she was named Florida’s Student Journalist of the Year and was a finalist for National Student Journalist of the Year.