The Relationship Between Celebrity Partisanship and Celebrity Advocacy Work

In the field of political science, much has been discussed about the role that celebrities play in American democracy. With the rising levels of political influence and opinions from celebrities, the topic of celebrity politics has garnered much popularity from scholars. Countless studies prove that celebrities have a growing impact on society. Whether it be a celebrity’s political activism through donations or candidate endorsements, less is known about celebrity partisanship in a meaningful way. Therefore this, research works to place celebrities on a concrete political spectrum detailing their partisan affiliation. In doing so, this study attempts to reveal new ways in which celebrities can influence politics from a partisan level. In addition to this, this study works to detail whether the balance between celebrity partisanship is skewed in one direction over the other.

Hello, my name is Lina Tate I’m currently enrolled in the Government 491 course working on my own independent research on the topic of celebrity politics and so this is my research proposal as I plan to execute the research next semester.

In American culture, the involvement of celebrities in the field of politics is far from being a new phenomenon. It’s not uncommon for us to see celebrities like Cardi B meet with Bernie Sanders to talk about affordable health care. Jon Ossoff did an interview with comedian Leslie Jones as part of his campaign strategy. Every couple of months, whether it be Oprah or the Rock, news media outlets talk about the next potential celebrity president. Historically we’ve seen celebrities turn politicians such as Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. While decades ago it might’ve seen laughable for a celebrity to be president, Donald Trump proved that anything is possible in American politics. All this is to say is that celebrity involvement in the American democracy will only continue to increase and become more the norm as time goes on.

However, while there is much literature on the topic of celebrity politics from their potential influence on elections, to their strategic candidate endorsements, little to no literature exists on celebrity partisanship and how that affects their impact in American politics. Therefore, my research question that I’m working to answer next semester is, Is There a Relationship Between Celebrity Political Partisanship and Celebrity Advocacy Work?

In order to answer this question, I will be creating a dataset that attempts to place celebrities on a political spectrum. In order to place them on this said spectrum, I will be selecting a sample size of 50 celebrities from various fields such as music, entertainment, and sports to name a few. Each celebrity must be over the age of 18 in relation to the voting age in America and those who have a direct impact on our democracy. In addition to this, while the term celebrity has broadened over time I am only considering those who have high accolades in their respective fields. Their partisanship will be examined through their political activity in three ways. This will include examining their social media following, any presence of candidate endorsements whether it be on social media or more formal endorsements from the 2020 presidential election, finally, if they have any involvement with non-governmental organizations.

By examining these factors and placing celebrities on this spectrum from liberal to conservative, I attempt to see if there are new ways celebrities influence political life from a partisan lens. In addition to this, I have come up with two objectives that my project works to meet. First, are celebrities as liberal as media and news outlets make them out to be, or are there more conservative celebrities than previously assumed. The second thing I want to find out is between liberal and conservatives, how visible and active are they in political activity? What kinds do they engage in most frequently amongst the three I will be examining. Seeing as scholars have noted the serious influence celebrities have over political outcomes it is worth exploring how their political affiliation affects that impact. Overall, with the generation of such a dataset, the hope is that it provides future studies on celebrity politics with an even more informed way of discussing the subject matter.