Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift have been strong supporters of Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
It says something of the theatre that is an American election campaign that unlike any other election in the world, musicians, and to a lesser extent actors, feel the need to proclaim which side they are on and exhort the world to follow their vote.
Now, in the home stretch of the battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for the White House, it is worth wondering what force musicians have in swaying votes. It is, however, a question without an answer, not definitively. Are people so without individual will and determination that they will vote on the say so of another? Well, actually, yes. And then again, no.
In America, there is an extra factor in the vote, and that is to actually get people to vote. It is a strange sensation for one living in a country where voting is compulsory to contemplate that in the US, which declares itself the beacon of democracy, voting is merely a shrug of whatever, maybe I will, maybe I won’t.
The Pew Research Centre in the US says this of elections: “The elections of 2018, 2020 and 2022 were three of the highest-turnout U.S. elections of their respective types in decades. About two-thirds (66%) of the voting-eligible population turned out for the 2020 presidential election – the highest rate for any national election since 1900. The 2018 election (49% turnout) had the highest rate for a mid-term since 1914. Even the 2022 election’s turnout, with a slightly lower rate of 46%, exceeded that of all mid-term elections since 1970.
“While sizable shares of the public vote either consistently or not at all, many people vote intermittently. Given how closely divided the US is politically, these intermittent voters often determine the outcome of elections and how the balance of support for the two major political parties swings between elections.”
A thread in the pleadings of musicians to the world focuses on this aspect, and it is mostly those following the Democrats who do so.
Bruce Springsteen is headlining a concert and rally with Barack Obama on Monday, in part, to get people to get off their sofas and vote. It is part of Harris’s “When We Vote We Win” concert series across seven states the Democrats see as crucial to victory.
Last month, Springsteen declared Trump to be “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime. Perhaps not since the Civil War has this great country felt as politically, spiritually and emotionally divided as it does than at this moment. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Springsteen has long campaigned for Democrats. In 2008, he was on the hustings for Obama.
The Harris campaign has drawn an unlikely conglomeration of musician supporters. They include, according to Billboard, Arianne Grande, Beyonce, Barbra Streisand, Billie Eilish, Bon Iver, Carole King, Cardi B, Eminem, the Foo Fighters, Jason Isbell, James Taylor, John Legend, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Linda Ronstadt, Moby, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Pink, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift.
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Trump has Azealia Banks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kanye West and Kid Rock, and Elon Musk, who it can be argued is an entertainer.
The last name for Harris, Taylor Swift, arguably created the greatest tremors when she announced her preference.
Swift posted on Instagram to her 283 million followers: “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
She also supported Joe Biden last time around.
At first glance, that a musician with as many followers as nearly two-thirds the population of America should be a daunting prospect for Trump, but perhaps not. The BBC recently reported that Harvard Kennedy School did a study on the impact of celebrities on voter registration. It found their “authenticity” was a motivator in people voting. However, the way in which they voted is less well-calculated.
Perhaps, the intensity of the campaign and its aftermath is shown in the joining on the same side for Harris of Joni Mitchell and Eminem.
During a performance at the Hollywood Bowl last weekend, Mitchell sang her song “Dog Eat Dog”, which among other things speaks of “snakebite evangelists and racketeers and big wig financiers”. Mitchell added, “like Donald Trump.”
She then urged the audience: “Everybody get out and vote. This is an important one. I wish I could vote – I’m Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants.”
Eminem appeared at a Harris/Tim Walz rally in Detroit, Michigan. He urged the crowd: “I am here tonight for a couple of important reasons. As most of you know, the city of Detroit and the whole state of Michigan mean a lot to me. Going into this election, the spotlight is on us more than ever. It is important to use your voice, so I am encouraging everybody to get out and vote please.
“I also think that people shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions and I don’t think anybody wants an America where people are worried about retribution and what people would do if you make your opinion known.
“I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms will be protected and upheld.”
In a couple of weeks, the world will know who has been listening.
