In an election year, celebrities are voters, too: they decide with the rest of their fellow Americans which candidate they should support. Unlike average voters, however, celebrities have the benefit of a worldwide audience to whom they can offer their endorsements. But while their star power helps sell shoes, sodas, clothes and CDs, many celebrities aren't quite as successful when it comes to their support for presidential candidates.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, argues that few Americans are so easily swayed that they would vote for a candidate simply because a star supports him. "Celebrities don't sway any voters with substantial gray matter," Sabato says. "I mean, who would vote for someone because Ben Affleck is for them? They'd have to be a blithering idiot."
In fact, Affleck may not have been able to persuade many voters to lend their support to Al Gore in 2000. In the pre-dawn hours of Election Day that year, Affleck joined with Glenn Close, Stevie Wonder, Robert DeNiro and other celebrities at an outdoor rally in Miami to encourage Floridians to vote for Gore. The event was broadcast in the early morning hours on C-Span and is featured at the beginning of Fahrenheit 9/11. Yet despite the support of Affleck and DeNiro, Florida infamously went on to become the most heavily contested state in the 2000 election. Michael Dukakis had a similar experience with Richard Gere in 1988. Although Gere was one of the most outspoken celebrities to support Dukakis, the two did not mesh, and, well, look what happened to Dukakis.
Still, history has not prevented a score of celebrities from throwing their hats into the endorsement ring this season. Just last month, at the typically un-political MTV Movie Awards, Uma Thurman somewhat digressed from her acceptance speech for Best Female Performance in Kill Bill, Volume 1 to suggest that her victory debunks the myth that single women don't vote.
Earlier this year, when there was still competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, a number of celebrities tried to assert that they were representative of the average voter supporting their chosen candidate.
In a letter posted on her website, Madonna appealed to voters to support Wesley Clark proclaiming that she was supporting him not merely "as a 'celebrity' but as an American citizen and a mother." Madonna's endorsement received a lot of press, most of which saw her support as laughable, but she still drew attention to her candidate.
This sort of media attention is what compels candidates to continue to seek celebrity support, despite the lack of proven political impact. Clark featured the endorsement of country musician George Jones on his website, and Clark's campaign sent out a press release with the candidate expressing his appreciation for the support of "a true American icon" whose career "is part of the fabric of Tennessee and of this country."
John Kerry also featured the endorsement of Carole King on his website, and the Democratic National Committee heavily promoted its Kerry Victory 2004 concerts in Los Angeles June 24 and New York July 8.
Political consultants also emphasize the importance of getting a celebrity to appear at an event to attract media attention. At that Florida rally back in 2000, Gore probably was able to get his message out to the tens of thousands present, but the casual late night viewer flipping through the channels may have tuned in for the celebrity--and not for the candidate.
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