Berliner Boersenzeitung - A-listers fail to win Harris votes as Trump lauds famous 'bros'

EUR -
AED 3.855359
AFN 71.377323
ALL 98.9304
AMD 409.516427
ANG 1.892125
AOA 958.34413
ARS 1056.623594
AUD 1.615519
AWG 1.889397
AZN 1.783436
BAM 1.959346
BBD 2.119737
BDT 125.457077
BGN 1.955898
BHD 0.395617
BIF 3039.829534
BMD 1.049665
BND 1.414788
BOB 7.281457
BRL 6.100126
BSD 1.0499
BTN 88.512294
BWP 14.342507
BYN 3.435719
BYR 20573.431932
BZD 2.116271
CAD 1.468019
CDF 3012.538394
CHF 0.930822
CLF 0.037165
CLP 1025.470248
CNY 7.599311
CNH 7.606927
COP 4605.667141
CRC 535.068474
CUC 1.049665
CUP 27.81612
CVE 110.686953
CZK 25.297954
DJF 186.546724
DKK 7.457556
DOP 63.403524
DZD 140.299428
EGP 52.079328
ERN 15.744973
ETB 129.119469
FJD 2.388985
FKP 0.828518
GBP 0.835408
GEL 2.875939
GGP 0.828518
GHS 16.58171
GIP 0.828518
GMD 74.526346
GNF 9059.657727
GTQ 8.106673
GYD 219.655948
HKD 8.169091
HNL 26.482792
HRK 7.487532
HTG 137.799417
HUF 409.458002
IDR 16637.71341
ILS 3.824506
IMP 0.828518
INR 88.457727
IQD 1375.585844
IRR 44164.650178
ISK 145.073956
JEP 0.828518
JMD 166.621585
JOD 0.744525
JPY 161.875648
KES 135.931727
KGS 91.099783
KHR 4252.192128
KMF 495.96684
KPW 944.698007
KRW 1469.588545
KWD 0.323055
KYD 0.874917
KZT 524.238873
LAK 23050.641277
LBP 94049.974422
LKR 305.502961
LRD 188.939707
LSL 19.03039
LTL 3.099387
LVL 0.634932
LYD 5.127613
MAD 10.574845
MDL 19.19247
MGA 4901.935038
MKD 61.604812
MMK 3409.270632
MNT 3566.761255
MOP 8.413649
MRU 41.886862
MUR 49.039901
MVR 16.227576
MWK 1821.168622
MXN 21.256448
MYR 4.673157
MZN 67.084504
NAD 19.030647
NGN 1771.288201
NIO 38.575455
NOK 11.650062
NPR 141.620031
NZD 1.795658
OMR 0.404098
PAB 1.04992
PEN 3.982432
PGK 4.225689
PHP 61.895602
PKR 291.596027
PLN 4.312506
PYG 8179.805456
QAR 3.821305
RON 4.976566
RSD 116.999844
RUB 109.171889
RWF 1438.040905
SAR 3.941569
SBD 8.799923
SCR 14.330794
SDG 631.372893
SEK 11.529645
SGD 1.412723
SHP 0.828518
SLE 23.858676
SLL 22010.952976
SOS 599.826672
SRD 37.256789
STD 21725.944051
SVC 9.186628
SYP 2637.314389
SZL 19.030664
THB 36.384557
TJS 11.191784
TMT 3.673827
TND 3.338456
TOP 2.458422
TRY 36.294159
TTD 7.131043
TWD 34.062702
TZS 2781.612304
UAH 43.569361
UGX 3890.040978
USD 1.049665
UYU 44.750999
UZS 13467.200332
VES 48.873774
VND 26682.481618
VUV 124.618326
WST 2.930235
XAF 657.15898
XAG 0.034777
XAU 0.0004
XCD 2.836771
XDR 0.803054
XOF 655.517644
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.33747
ZAR 18.932858
ZMK 9448.244693
ZMW 28.950504
ZWL 337.991668
  • SCS

    0.5660

    13.836

    +4.09%

  • CMSC

    0.0678

    24.74

    +0.27%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    34.22

    +0.76%

  • AZN

    0.8450

    66.475

    +1.27%

  • NGG

    0.2300

    63.34

    +0.36%

  • BCC

    10.9100

    154.69

    +7.05%

  • BTI

    0.0300

    37.41

    +0.08%

  • RBGPF

    -0.9500

    59.24

    -1.6%

  • RIO

    0.7700

    63.12

    +1.22%

  • CMSD

    0.1330

    24.593

    +0.54%

  • BP

    -0.3600

    29.36

    -1.23%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    6.82

    +0.29%

  • BCE

    0.2050

    26.975

    +0.76%

  • RELX

    -0.1450

    46.605

    -0.31%

  • JRI

    0.1900

    13.4

    +1.42%

  • VOD

    0.1900

    8.92

    +2.13%

A-listers fail to win Harris votes as Trump lauds famous 'bros'
A-listers fail to win Harris votes as Trump lauds famous 'bros' / Photo: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo - AFP/File

A-listers fail to win Harris votes as Trump lauds famous 'bros'

A raft of celebrities from Taylor Swift and Beyonce to George Clooney and Harrison Ford proved unable to prevent Kamala Harris's crushing defeat in the US election, underlining the limited impact of sweeping star endorsements on voters.

Text size:

Instead it was Donald Trump and the Republicans -- who received scant support from the entertainment industry at large, but tapped into a targeted subset of well-known, hypermasculine influencers -- who won comfortably.

So, did the Democrats' long-standing Hollywood and music industry connections, including last-minute rally appearances from Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, make any difference at all in the end?

"Not in this election, clearly," said New York University arts professor Laurence Maslon.

"At the end of the day, people probably realize that Beyonce and George Clooney don't have to worry about the cost of gas or the cost of eggs -- so maybe they're sort of irrelevant," he told AFP.

Celebrity endorsements have long been part of the fabric of US elections, harking back to the days when Frank Sinatra wrangled the "Rat Pack" to support John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Even this year, Hollywood-led fundraisers helped raise tens of millions of dollars for Harris's record-breaking campaign war chest.

But their impact in actually influencing votes has always been a "mixed bag," said Arizona State University associate professor Margaretha Bentley, who teaches a public policy course on Taylor Swift.

"It's never going to be the golden ticket that everybody's looking for," she said.

Mark Harvey, author of "Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-Based Advocacy," agreed that we "shouldn't be terribly surprised" by the lack of celebrity impact.

"There isn't a real strong science behind this idea that celebrities can influence people to vote for candidates," he said.

- 'Macho' -

Famous supporters have only ever been effective when advocating on very specific issues on which they are widely regarded as expert, added Harvey.

As Donald Trump delivered his victory speech early Wednesday, the new president-elect was flanked by -- and showered praise on -- famous names from the world of sport.

UFC boss Dana White was lovingly hailed as "tough" and "a piece of work," while golfer Bryson DeChambeau was celebrated as "fantastic" and even having a "slightly longer" drive than the golf-loving Trump.

Loud cheers -- and a significant portion of Trump's address -- were devoted to his best-known supporter of all, tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump also received a last-minute endorsement from Joe Rogan, the influential host of one of the world's top podcasts.

The Republican may have benefited from these associations because, in an election "largely driven by cultural issues, one of the most potent cultural issues was masculinity," said Harvey.

"This sort of 'be a real man,' the Trump 'macho' sort of thing... it's the kind of thing that Joe Rogan plays all the time."

- 'Shocked' -

For the Democrats, this latest scarring experience will require a "deep self-analysis... of what they did and didn't do, and what might have been successful," including with celebrity endorsements, said Bentley.

Ashley Spillane, author of the report "Celebrities Strengthening Our Culture of Democracy," agreed there was "debate" about the "value and impact of celebrity endorsements of candidates."

But there is still "robust evidence that celebrities do have a real impact in promoting overall, nonpartisan civic engagement," she wrote via email, pointing to Swift's endorsement of Harris, which was credited with driving 400,000 people to a voter registration site.

Even if their endorsements failed, Hollywood celebrities showed no indication Wednesday that they would remain silent.

Waking up to the news of Trump's victory, several well-known figures took to social media to vent their frustrations.

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis said Trump's win would usher in "a sure return to a more restrictive, some fear draconian time."

"Fascist with total power... That may have been the last free election," wrote actor John Cusack. "Horror is coming."

Pop singer Cardi B, who appeared at a Harris rally last Friday, simply wrote: "I hate yall bad."

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)