A pair of celebrities with diverse appeals to young Americans have helped fuel support for Kamala Harris, as both the vice president and Donald Trump make efforts to attract first-time voters in the final weeks of a highly contested election race.
Pop star Billie Eilish posted a videotape with her brother Instagram encouraged her followers to register to vote, with her siblings revealing they planned to vote for Harris. Podcast host Joe Rogan praised Harris’s political team for their messaging strategy and her recent debate performance without directly endorsing her candidacy.
The celebrity comments—which came after Taylor Swift endorsed Harris after last week’s debate—could prove to be a key factor in attracting the younger voters sought by both campaigns. Rogan’s praise, while not a direct endorsement, was an implicit endorsement of Harris. That’s a downside to the Trump campaign’s strategy of targeting young men, who are a big part of Rogan’s audience.
“They did a fantastic job, right from the moment Biden dropped out, forcing Biden to drop out,” Rogan speak of Harris team in a episode recorded on September 11 and aired on Monday. “Whatever they were doing, whoever was writing those speeches” and directing her, “she did a great job.”
Rogan, a controversial figure for spreading misinformation and racist comments in the past, has been openly critical of Trump. He has shown mixed political allegiances in the past, endorsing Bernie Sanders in the 2020 race while saying at the time that he would also support Trump over Biden, and has previously expressed support for independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in the 2024 cycle.
Joe Rogan’s Experience To be No.1 podcast on Spotify SA Technology by unique listeners and overall followers, and number 5 in Apple Podcasts The ranking considers audience size, engagement and episode completions. Eilish and her brother, who has written and produced many of her songs, have a combined 123 million followers on the Meta Platforms Inc. app.
“We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting for reproductive freedom, our planet, and our democracy,” Billie Eilish, 22, said in the video. “Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.”
The Harris campaign’s Instagram account commented on the post, referencing one of Eilish’s hits, writing “Birds of a Feather” with a heart emoji.
Some of the biggest names in Democratic-leaning Hollywood have endorsed Harris, including Swift and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who is campaigning alongside Harris this week. Economists Craig Garthwaite and Timothy Moore, assessing the impact of Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama during his first run for president in 2008, establish that her support helped him gain about 1 million more votes to win.
While celebrity endorsements are rarely seen as game-changers, the fact that Harris and Trump are essentially tied underscores how big a role get-out-the-vote efforts can play. Several celebrities encouraged their fans to register to vote on Tuesday, which marks National Voter Registration Day in the United States.
