Do celebrity endorsements matter? A look at the role of pop stars in modern politics

Lisa Desjardins:

But how important are these celebrity endorsements, and do they actually make a difference in changing voters' minds? Earlier this week, I spoke with Mark Harvey, author of "Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion and Issue Based Advocacy" to help answer that question.

Mark, we're going to talk about whether celebrity, their factor in a race, makes any difference at all. But first, I want to switch this around. Why do celebrities do this? What's in it for them to get involved in politics?

Mark Harvey, Author, "Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion and Issue Based Advocacy": That's a really complicated question. First of all, I think you could say that, you know, many of them just have the same impetus as any of us would be. That is, maybe they feel very strongly about an issue and they just want to share.

Taylor Swift, for example, for a long time wasn't involved in politics, but then she claimed that she got involved because she wanted to be on the right side of history, and so there's that individual aspect. However, there's always a risk, when they get involved in that, that taking one side or another may also alienate some of their core fan base.