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Can Celebrity Endorsements Affect Political Outcomes? Evidence from the 2008 US Democratic Presidential Primary

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  • Craig Garthwaite
  • Timothy J. Moore

Abstract

Identifying the effects of political endorsements has historically been difficult. Before the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In this article, we assess the impact of this endorsement using, as measures of Winfrey's influence, subscriptions to her magazine and sales of books she recommends. We find that her endorsement increased Obama's votes and financial contributions, and also increased overall voter turnout. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and previous elections, nor with underlying political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for approximately 1 million additional votes for Obama. The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

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  • Craig Garthwaite & Timothy J. Moore, 2013. "Can Celebrity Endorsements Affect Political Outcomes? Evidence from the 2008 US Democratic Presidential Primary," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 355-384, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jleorg:v:29:y:2013:i:2:p:355-384
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jleo/ewr031
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    Cited by:

    1. Lourdes Rojas Rubio, 2022. "Leader influence on Politics," THEMA Working Papers 2022-16, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Agustin Casas & Yarine Fawaz & Andre Trindade, 2016. "Surprise Me If You Can: The Influence Of Newspaper Endorsements In U.S. Presidential Elections," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1484-1498, July.
    3. Garz, Marcel & Pagels, Verena, 2018. "Cautionary tales: Celebrities, the news media, and participation in tax amnesties," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 288-300.
    4. Prato, Carlo & Wolton, Stephane, 2014. "Electoral Imbalances and their Consequences," MPRA Paper 68650, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Nov 2015.
    5. Ho, Thong Quoc & Nie, Zihan & Alpizar, Francisco & Carlsson, Fredrik & Nam, Pham Khanh, 2022. "Celebrity endorsement in promoting pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 68-86.
    6. Scott Simon Boddery & Damon Cann & Laura Moyer & Jeff Yates, 2023. "The role of cable news hosts in public support for Supreme Court decisions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), pages 1045-1069, December.
    7. Sprick Schuster, Steven, 2023. "The persuasive power of the fourth estate: Estimating the effect of newspaper endorsements: 1960–1980," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 496-510.
    8. Cao, Andy & Lindo, Jason M. & Zhong, Jiee, 2023. "Can social media rhetoric incite hate incidents? Evidence from Trump's “Chinese Virus” tweets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    9. Alexander Cardazzi & Joshua C. Martin & Zachary Rodriguez, 2023. "Information shocks and celebrity exposure: The effect of “Magic” Johnson on AIDS diagnoses and mortality in the U.S," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(9), pages 2047-2079, September.
    10. Vincent Ekow Arkorful & Benjamin Kweku Lugu, 2022. "Voters’ behavior: Probing the salience of Manifestoes, Debates, Ideology and Celebrity Endorsement," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1025-1044, December.

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