How much power do celebrities wield with their social media-mediated endorsements? When it comes to encouraging the apathetic to vote in the 2018 midterms, now less than three weeks away, probably more than you think.
At least one study, of how celebrity endorsements may have impacted the 2016 presidential election, supports this notion. According to study author Nives Zubcevic-Basic: “In a cluttered world where myriad messages fight for the attention of time-starved consumers, celebrity endorsers serve as arbiters of public opinion.” Much as brands rely on celebrity endorsements for their products, just seeing a beloved celebrity with an item can create positive psychological associations for fans. But for that endorsement to do well, the celebrity’s public image and the “message” of the item need to align.
In 2008, it’s estimated that Oprah’s endorsement of Barack Obama generated as many as a million votes for him. But there’s a theory that her endorsement of Hillary Clinton in 2016, along with hundreds of other celebrities, wasn’t enough to override the fact that President Trump was a celebrity endorsing himself.
For this year’s midterms, celebrity endorsements seem to be leaning left. Of the top 500 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit posts of the link to vote.gov, 53 percent were from people with “significant” cultural influence (this category includes more traditional celebrities like Sean Hannity and Debra Messing, but also verified social-media influencers like Twitch streamer Hutch). Of that 53 percent, it’s interesting to note that more than 86 percent of posts were by people with left-leaning views (such as Taylor Swift.)
A total of 43 posts were from politicians, with 79 percent of them identifying as Democrats, 12 percent as independent and 9 percent as Republicans. But it was the non-politicians, celebrities like Mark Hamill, Kathy Griffin and Sean Hannity, doing most of the legwork. More than 88 percent of non-politicians encouraging voter registration through the vote.gov link fell on the left of the aisle. In many cases, one person posted the link multiple times: Kathy Griffin, Padma Lakshmi and Billy Eichner led the pack in terms of frequency, with 23, 13 and 11 posts, respectively.
While both the GOP and the DNC have created their own sites to encourage voter registration, the vote.gov website is a nonpartisan website sponsored by the U.S. government.
Will celebrity involvement in the midterms have a different effect at local levels? Or are we seeing a new era in endorsement of candidates? We’ll find out on Nov. 6. Until then, double check your voter registration status, register if you still have time and take a look below to see if your favorite celebrity is working to get their fans involved with this election:
https://twitter.com/patsajak/status/1050102795703992320
https://www.facebook.com/rihanna/photos/a.10152251658271676/10155888351851676/?type=3&theater
https://www.instagram.com/p/BokGXZ3FSQK/?taken-by=amyschumer
https://www.facebook.com/SeanHannity/posts/10161400368605389
https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/?taken-by=taylorswift
Tag: voter registration
Looking to Repair Democracy? There’s an App for That
Watching the bare-knuckle cage match that is our presidential election in 2016, it’s no wonder voters are tempted to just unplug the television and bolt the door until Election Day. But the team behind the networking site Brigade wants you to turn those frustrations into something productive. The website, funded in part by tech billionaire Sean Parker of Napster, Facebook and Spotify fame, was founded as a virtual forum for civic engagement and is now turning its attention to getting out the vote in November.
In the site’s earliest incarnation, political enthusiasts sparred over policy proposals, hoping to convince ideological opponents to switch sides or, at the very least, see another point of view. In the last few months, Brigade has shifted its emphasis to the election: Political allies in the same district declare which candidates they’ll be supporting in the voting booth, from the commander-in-chief all the way down to county coroner, with the goal of rallying like-minded folks to the cause.
When visitors first log in, they are asked for their address and presented with dozens of issue-related survey questions. Then, their answers are compared to other users (including people in their area) who’ve pledged their votes to a specific candidate. This is particularly useful, CEO Matt Mahan points out, for down-ballot races: After the incessant media coverage of the presidential race, voters may know who they want to see in the Oval Office, but still have no idea who’s best suited to represent them on Capitol Hill, much less in City Hall.
Brigade joins the likes of Turbovote, which sends electronic reminders about key registration deadlines, and BallotReady, which can fill in any knowledge gaps in down-ballot races. NBCU and Vote Smart provide a comprehensive suite of tools to help with every step of the process, including a quiz that matches users with a candidate based on policy positions; a comprehensive FAQ page that covers eligibility, registration, polling places and more; and a tool that lets people check the voting requirements in their state. Users who were granted early access to Brigade’s new ballot tool have already pledged almost 300,000 votes for candidates from the top of the ticket to the important, but frequently overlooked, down-ballot races. And they invited almost 1 million friends to pledge votes as well.
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But what distinguishes Brigade from other voting tools is its permanence: Members can wonk out, regardless of how far away the next election is. Think of it as Facebook for the politically minded.
“We believe a voter network needs to exist in the world,” says Mahan. “We’re creating a way to make the political process more accessible, engaging and transparent for ordinary people. That’s our long-term vision for Brigade: to bring democracy online.”
Because Brigade tracks a user’s pledges, it’s easy for people to see their impact, like how many opinions they’ve changed through online discussions or how many people they’ve recruited to their candidate. Elizabeth McAlexander, of Knoxville, Tenn., for example, knows she’s swayed 110 other Brigade users to vote for Green Party nominee Jill Stein, measurable data you can’t find anywhere else.
Donald P. Green, a political scientist at Columbia University whose research focuses on how to mobilize and persuade voters, will be studying the impact of Brigade’s pledges on turnout. While his job requires him to be a “determined skeptic,” he believes that Brigade’s social influence could boost participation. “Many people feel disconnected from the political process. In some ways, even though they are interested enough to register to vote and feel a sense of civic duty, it’s as though they were invited to a social event. Without that extra nudge of saying, ‘Hey, let’s go,’ they might just miss this one,” he explains. “Anything that brings people into contact with each other or reminds them of social norms tends to increase turnout.”
To be sure, the site still has its share of partisan strife — users who’d rather take personal swipes at Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump rather than discuss those candidates’ positions — but Mahan believes those conflicts will subside once the election is over. He references the time a San Francisco county supervisor, Scott Weiner, logged in to debate affordable housing policies, a model for what he expects to see in the future as the site’s following pressures elected officials to make an account.
Once a new president is sworn in, Mahan sees Brigade as an important driver in guiding the issues that the new administration will focus on. Rather than imitate the mud-slinging candidates did in the run-up to the election, Mahan hopes users will be able to carry on high-minded political discussions and collaborate on solutions. “There’s a lack of faith today that our political process works,” says Mahan. “There’s a feeling that participation doesn’t matter and that the system is rigged.” And that may be the biggest reason of all for forums like Brigade to exist — to create a much-needed space for citizens to meaningfully carry out their civic duties.
This article is part of the What’s Possible series produced by NationSwell and Comcast NBCUniversal, which shines a light on changemakers who are creating opportunities to help people and communities thrive in a 21st-century world. These social entrepreneurs and their future-forward ideas represent what’s possible when people come together to create solutions that connect, educate and empower others and move America forward.
A Better Way to Register New Voters, A Talking Cure for Homicide and More
Here’s What Happened When Oregon Automatically Registered Its New Voters, Washington Post
When you apply for a drivers license in Oregon, you’re now automatically registered to vote. State officials say the DMV program — the nation’s first opt-out law — is the simplest way to bolster voter rolls and keep addresses up-to-date — important in a state that votes by mail. So far, in the first week, four times as many new voters signed up as the Beaver State used to register in a month. It remains to be seen whether they actually cast a ballot.
This Police Department Stops Disputes Before They Turn Deadly, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
It’s a rule of thumb for criminologists that crime spikes in the summer: not only are more people outside, but heated arguments also sometimes lead to violence. In Rochester, N.Y., beat cops now track tiffs across the city and send a summary of the dispute to a central database, where analysts can predict which are most likely to escalate. While this predictive policing may sound like a real-life “Minority Report,” law enforcement’s seven-month-old strategy appears promising and is being looked at by other departments nationally, including Milwaukee.
After Rehab, This Valuable App Keeps Drinkers and Drug Abusers Sober, New York Times
A former addict walks out of rehab and is suddenly bombarded by temptations: old drinking buddies, familiar haunts, relief from stress and anxiety. A mobile app, A-Chess, checks in throughout the day to help alcoholics avoid the bottle. It’s pre-loaded with high-risk locations like bars and liquor stores the person frequented. When nearby, the app automatically sends a message, “Are you sure you want to be here?” and alerts other contacts the patient has pre-programmed, like his sponsor or a family member. Along with virtual counseling and other smartphone apps, these modern tools are helping with the hardest part of getting clean: staying that way.
The Man That’s Bringing Voting Out of the 18th Century
Did you vote in the last national election?
If you’re like most Americans, the answer is no.
Even with control of the Senate hanging in the balance, the 2014 midterm elections saw the lowest voter turnout since World War II, only 36.3 percent — a national embarrassment. For some citizens, the shirking of democratic duty may have resulted from a lack of interest. But others may have missed registration deadlines, got stuck at work or been turned away at the polls for insufficient identification. Our electoral system, after all, doesn’t make it easy.
“There’s a tradition in the U.S. about why we vote on a Tuesday. We vote on a Tuesday because in the 1700s that was super convenient. Sunday was for church, Monday you’d go down to the capitol, Tuesday morning you’d vote for whomever you wanted to vote for and you’d be back home for market day on Wednesday,” says Seth Flaxman, co- founder and executive director of the nonprofit Democracy Works. The problem? “It’s still fitting the way we live to the 1700s, and that’s so complicated to stay engaged in.”
Flaxman’s project is updating American democracy for the smartphone era. Nonpartisan, the group’s central principle is that voting should fit the way we live today. That’s why Democracy Works debuted TurboVote, an online voter registration and notification tool, as its signature app in 2010. All it requires users to submit is a name, the locale where they want to cast a ballot and a way to stay in touch. Reminders, unique to each jurisdiction, warn users when Election Day is close, so a voter can update his or her registration or apply for an absentee ballot.
Before the 2012 presidential election, TurboVote helped 200,000 people register. The app’s reminders helped ensure 75 percent of users that were first-time registrants voted. (Eighty percent of users who re-registered to vote actually cast a ballot.)
“It doesn’t make any sense that we can rent a movie or connect with friends or go shopping — do all these things that are arguably much less important than voting — a lot easier than we can actually interact with our democracy,” Flaxman says. “The only way democracy actually works is because people vote. So the easiest way we can get more people to vote in the U.S. is to modernize voting for the way we live.”
While a graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, living on campus in Cambridge, Mass., Flaxman didn’t vote in several elections in his home state. “ I remember being angry when I realized how many elections I’d missed,” he says. Walking down the street one November, he noticed a sandwich board announcing that it was Election Day. “This is it?” he recalls thinking, noticing that the polls had already been closed an hour. “This is how I’m supposed to know how to vote?” So he reached out to fellow classmate Kathryn Peters and asked her if they could build a system to track election deadlines. “
That’s crazy that doesn’t already exist,” she said at the time.
Flaxman doesn’t see apathy or disengagement as reasons why voter turnout is low. “Consistently around 60 percent of voters say they didn’t vote for a collection of around a dozen different process issues,” Flaxman says. “If we can solve the process side of the equation first, that’s the easier way to increase participation, and it’s the way we can have a bigger impact immediately.”
This is particularly true for young voters, who spend a significant amount of their life online and find punching out chads in a paper ballot archaic.
Millennials, too, are “a generation that grew up seeing our politics not working,” Flaxman adds. For him, as for almost everyone, this failure was personal. Back in grad school, he couldn’t find a single national or statewide candidate who fully supported same-sex marriage that he could back. “At the time, my boyfriend — now husband — and I were driving up to Maine to help in the Prop. 1 vote, in favor of marriage equality. It lost and it opened up my eyes to there’s not always this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Flaxman says. “My hope is that if we can make voting easier, it will actually wake up people in government to who they need to serve. For me, a democracy that works is ultimately issue number one. The more of us who vote, the more responsive and representative our government’s actually going to be.”