MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Donald Trump has Roseanne Barr and Hulk Hogan in his corner. Kamala Harris has George Clooney and Oprah. Famous faces can wow the crowds, but can they move the polls and turn an election? NPR's Barry Gordemer reports on a century of celebrity endorsements.
BARRY GORDEMER, BYLINE: One of the first big stars to stump for a presidential candidate was Al Jolson.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SWANEE")
AL JOLSON: (Singing) Swanee. How I love you, how I love you, my dear old Swanee.
GORDEMER: Jolson was one of America's most famous singers in the early 20th century. He endorsed Warren Harding for president in 1920.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: And the Babe socks it into the bleachers for his first home run of the series.
GORDEMER: A few years later, baseball legend Babe Ruth stumped for Al Smith. He ran against Herbert Hoover in 1928. But celebrity endorsements really weren't a thing back then.
MARK HARVEY: Actors, musicians, had morality clauses in their contracts, which prevented them from really speaking freely about just about anything.
GORDEMER: That's Mark Harvey. He teaches at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas, and he wrote a book about celebrity influence in politics.
HARVEY: Humphrey Bogart, for example - if he'd said something the studio didn't like, he probably would be blackballed in Hollywood. And at that time, no celebrity was thought to be too big to be blackballed.
GORDEMER: There was one exception.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIGH HOPES")
FRANK SINATRA: (Singing) Come on and vote for Kennedy. Vote for Kennedy, and you'll come out on top.
GORDEMER: Frank Sinatra was more than just a big star. He was, as Mark Harvey says, the celebrity equivalent of too big to fail. Sinatra endorsed FDR and John Kennedy, daring Hollywood executives to stop him.
HARVEY: So it really wasn't until Martin Luther King's March on Washington in 1963 when celebrities start taking a big risk. One of the major actors who comes out during this time period is Warren Beatty.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BONNIE AND CLYDE")
WARREN BEATTY: (As Clyde Barrow) This here's Miss Bonnie Parker.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Glad to meet you.
BEATTY: (As Clyde Barrow) I'm Clyde Barrow.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Clyde.
BEATTY: (As Clyde) We rob banks.
HARVEY: Richard Nixon is running against McGovern in 1972, and he jumps on the McGovern side.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE CANDY MAN")
SAMMY DAVIS JR: (Singing) Candy man.
GORDEMER: So many of the rich and famous skew Democratic, but Richard Nixon snagged the singer Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE CANDY MAN")
DAVIS JR: (Singing) Who can take a sunrise? Who can take a sunrise?
HARVEY: One of the most famous Republican endorsers was Clint Eastwood, who endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. As you may recall, Clint Eastwood had this monologue where he was talking to an empty chair.
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CLINT EASTWOOD: And I think if you just kind of stepped aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over, you could still use the plane.
HARVEY: I think the implication was that Barack Obama should have been in that chair, and at that particular moment, it didn't help Mitt Romney.
GORDEMER: But do celebrity endorsements help any presidential candidate? The overwhelming evidence is there's no evidence that stars make a difference - with one notable exception.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
OPRAH WINFREY: Everybody gets a car. Everybody gets a car.
GORDEMER: A study by Northwestern University found that Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama made a real difference in the 2008 presidential primary race against Hillary Clinton.
HARVEY: The numbers are something along the lines of a million votes, maybe, that she might have swayed. That's the one case.
GORDEMER: The rest of the time, voters don't focus too much on what famous folks say.
HARVEY: If I were to ask you what is affecting your vote, most people are going to say, it's the economy. It's gas prices. It's what's my ideology? It's not, what does Taylor Swift think?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKE IT OFF")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) And the haters going to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.
GORDEMER: Mark Harvey says it's really hard to measure the influence of celebrities on elections, but that doesn't mean they can't shake it up.
Barry Gordemer, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKE IT OFF")
SWIFT: (Singing) I shake it off. I shake it off. Shake it off. I shake it off. I, I, I shake it off. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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