Re: Matt’s Take on the Celebrity-Inspired Youth Vote
By Nicholle Manners - Jul 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pmOf course celebrities don’t make people vote. It makes perfectly logical sense that the best type of voter mobilization is personal connection. And it would be offensive to think that there are those who believe our generation can only be turned out by free concerts and celebrity endorsements. But it doesn’t follow that initiatives like the Hip Hop Caucus will do nothing significant to advance the youth vote, unless you have a narrow definition of youth.
Nontraditional campaigns involving celebrities draw major crowds. They’re effective in attracting members of communities that might not otherwise come out. So, even as these campaigns revolve around celebrity personalities and follow a “just add politics” strategy, they highlight the importance of civic participation for a broad audience–the same audience that is consistently omitted from the mainstream political discourse. They advance–however superficially–messages of individual value, collective consciousness, and empowerment. These messages may appear redundant and inconsequential to those who are already politically aware, but for members of these communities, events like Monday’s launch may be just the necessary spark.
In other words: If you live in a neighborhood that welcomes people off of porches and into living rooms for a glass of lemonade and a friendly chat about politics, T.I. isn’t going to convince you to vote. But, if you’re usually focused on more mundane concerns–like whether you can get enough overtime to help pay next month’s rent–your favorite celebrity may very well have some pull.
Dawn from Danity Kane persuaded me to vote.
(Well said by the way)
July 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pmThis sounds right, but there is just about no empirical or social scientific evidence that it actually works to increase the number of voters. I wish more than anyone that TI concerts got young people to vote (and vote Democratic!), but history shows that it probably won’t do anything besides enhance TI’s profile.
I guess one way celebrity politics could work is if the candidate himself is a celebrity, and I think we’re seeing that with Obama.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:29 pmI definitely see what you’re saying and the empirical evidence you reference. I’m just wondering whether the information’s been effectively disaggregated to reflect the demographics these newer, hip-hop-centric campaigns are targeting.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:06 pmYes, Tim Connery’s research showed that the big, celebrity oriented voting campaign’s in 2004 failed. This stuff doesn’t work, won’t work and is really just a waste of time. It’s great for TI though, and as a big TI fan, I can’t be too perturbed,
July 30th, 2008 at 7:51 pm