As the American people get ready for another presidential election season, it’s time to review one of our political traditions: party, media and celebrity campaign endorsements.
Picking favorites in presidential campaigns is a long tradition – one that started when George Washington refused to run for a third term in 1796. Back then, many newspapers had direct affiliations with political parties, and they used editorial pieces and cartoons to sway voters.
A famous example was the 1860 New York Times endorsement of Abraham Lincoln, who the newspaper said was “age 51, height six feet seven, by profession Rail-Splitter.”
Political party officials, to be sure, have long had an active voice in promoting their favorite candidates, such as Andrew Jackson’s support for Martin Van Buren, and Theodore Roosevelt’s endorsement of William Howard Taft.
Celebrity endorsements are a newer phenomenon, starting in the 1920 presidential campaign. Candidate Warren Harding enlisted singer Al Jolson, and actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to campaign for him in a movie directed by an advertising agency. Frank Sinatra and his “Rat Pack” friends also were used to promote John F. Kennedy’s campaign in 1960.
In 2016, there are certainly an eclectic set of endorsements so far. For the Republicans, the four remaining candidates’ endorsements reflect their campaign personalities, and their political connections.
The current GOP front runner, Donald Trump, has a mixture of current national political figures (Chris Christie, Sarah Palin), business leaders (Carl Icahn, Steve Forbes) and a few reality TV stars (Omarosa Manigault, Hulk Hogan) that support his outsider image.
Marco Rubio has an extensive list of Washington figures (Darrell Issa, Orin Hatch), business leaders (Larry Ellison), and celebs (Donnie Wahlberg, Rick Harrison from “Pawn Stars”), while Ted Cruz has media figures (Glenn Beck, Mark Levin), a business leader (Jack Welch) and some celebs, too (James Woods, Chuck Norris). John Kasich earned the important endorsement in Ohio from football coach Urban Meyer and Trump’s successor on “The Apprentice,” Arnold Schwarzenegger.
For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton’s multi-year campaign has yielded a huge number of endorsements, ranging from her husband, former Clinton admiration officials, many Democrats in Washington, and a slew of union and state officials. Pop culture names supporting Clinton include Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian and Beyonce.
Bernie Sanders’s supporters reflect his grassroots, outsider campaign. Sanders does have some union endorsements, and his mass-media supporters include Bill Maher, Daniel Craig, Ronda Rousey, Susan Sarandon, and his early supporter, rapper Killer Mike. So far, most newspaper endorsements have been limited to the primaries.
One outstanding question, at least among political watchers, is one about the impact of endorsements in general. Back in 2011, Nate Silver on his FiveThirtyEight blog noted the person with the most newspaper endorsements didn’t always win the general election.
“Newspaper endorsements, however, do not guarantee endorsements from electoral college voters,” he said. “The winner of the most editorial approvals has lost the election three times since 1972 — in 1976, 1996 and 2004. The endorsement leader has matched the election winner in the seven other elections, but that may be because before 1992 it always favored the G.O.P., and those years happened to see a string of Republican presidents.”
And what about celebrity endorsements? An academic study looked at the effect of Oprah Winfrey’s support of Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008 – a high-water mark for celeb endorsements. It found that Winfrey brought in about 1 million additional votes for Obama, who defeated John McCain by about 9.5 million votes in the general election.
Endorsements So Far In 2016
The Republicans
Donald Trump
Alex Jones
Ann Coulter
Brian France, NASCAR CEO
Carl Icahn
Chris Christie
Dana White
Duncan Hunter
Gary Busey
Hulk Hogan
Jan Brewer
Jeff Sessions
Jerry Falwell Jr.
Jon Voight
Michael Savage
Omarosa Manigault
Paul LePage
Paul Teutul
Sarah Palin
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Steve Forbes
Steve Wynn
Tom Brady
Willie Robertson
Ted Cruz
Carly Fiorina
Chuck Norris
Glenn Beck
Jack Welch
James Woods
Jeff Duncan
Mark Levin
Mark Sanford
Meghan McCain
Mike Lee
Neil Bush
Phil Bryant
Phil Robertson
Steve King
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
Tony Perkins
Marco Rubio
Bob Dole
Bobby Jindal
Donnie Wahlberg
George Pataki
Larry Ellison
Darrell Issa
Jeff Flake
Jim Inhofe
Lamar Alexander
Nikki Haley
Mia Love
Susana Martinez
Orrin Hatch
Pat Roberts
Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars)
Rick Santorum
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam
Trey Gowdy
John Kasich
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Charles Barkley
Christine Todd Whitman
Gregg Harper
John Sununu
Mary Bono
Pat Tiberi
Ray LaHood
Rob Portman
Robert Bentley
Steve Stivers
Tim Allen
Urban Meyer
The Democrats
Hillary Clinton
American Federation of Teachers
Beyonce
Claire McCaskill
Current governors (14) and former governors (35)
Current Senators (40) and Representatives (165)
Former President Bill Clinton
Harry Reid
Howard Stern
J.J. Abrams
Jim Clyburn
John Lewis
Katy Perry
Kim Kardashian
National Education Association
Numerous former Clinton Administration officials
Steven Spielberg
Tim Gunn
Bernie Sanders
Alan Grayson
American Postal Workers Union
Ben Jealous
Bill Maher
Cenk Uyger
Communications Workers of America
Daniel Craig
Diplo
Kal Penn
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Killer Mike
Michael Keaton
Michael Moore
Raúl Grijalva
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Reich
Ronda Rousey
Roseanne Barr
Susan Sarandon
Tulsi Gabbard
