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I examined how voters' attitudes may be influenced by celebrity endorsement of a political candidate. In the study I drew upon reactance theory, reinforcement theory, social identification theory, and the elaboration likelihood model to investigate the effects on young decided and undecided (swing) voters of party identification and identification with a celebrity endorser in a political campaign. I used a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design to examine the factors of voters' party identification, identification with a celebrity endorser, and status of voting intention of 256 U.S. university students enrolled in a journalism course. The results suggest that party identification and identification with a celebrity endorser are predictors of effectiveness for celebrity endorsement of political candidates. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: celebrity endorsement, political candidate, party identification, voting intention, swing voter, decided voter.
Since the introduction of celebrity endorsement, all manner of celebrities have endorsed such things as brands, nonprofit organizations, geographical locations, and even political candidates. Endorsing political candidates is considered a worldwide phenomenon (Chou, 2015). In the United States of America (USA) the relationship between celebrities in the film industry based in Hollywood and politicians in Washington D.C. has long been intimate (Wood & Herbst, 2007). Throughout Democrat primaries and caucuses in 2008, presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton enjoyed endorsement of some prominent (A-list) Hollywood celebrities. For instance, Barack Obama received endorsements from Will Smith, Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Anniston, Scarlett Johansson, and Matt Damon, while Hillary Clinton received endorsements from Magic Johnson, Barbara Streisand, John Grisham, Jerry Springer, and many others. However, whether or not such support translated into actual votes has yet to be clarified.
As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama won the endorsement of the celebrity talk show host, actress, producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey, and Garthwaite and Moore (2013) found that this endorsement increased the amount of financial campaign contributions, as well as increasing the number of votes Barack Obama received by approximately one million. In fact, Oprah Winfrey's endorsement was found to have increased overall voter turnout. However, according to a Gallup poll of 507 Americans (Carroll & Jones, 2007), her endorsement could have had negative effects, which suggests that celebrity endorsements...