Pop Culture & The Presidency: What 'Big Names' Are Backing Trump, Harris?

In modern presidential campaigns in the United States, the influence of pop culture is unavoidable. Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have big names backing them and showing their support.

What 'big names' are endorsing Trump?

Celebrities like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan and Amber Rose have all shown their support for Trump. All three played big roles at the 2024 Republican National Convention, either performing or speaking at the event.

While speaking at the RNC, Hogan ripped his shirt off, revealing another shirt that said “Trump Vance 2024,” while saying:

“What happened last week when they took a shot at my hero, and they tried to kill the next President of the United States. Enough was enough, and I said, Let Trump-a-mania run wild, brother. Let Trump-a-mania roll again. Let Trump-a-mania make America great again.

Model and entrepreneur Amber Rose not only showed her support for the former president at the RNC, but she is also known for sharing posts on social media in support of Trump.

Trump also has support from tech mogul Elon Musk, who, according to a Wall Street Journal article from July, is committed to donating $45 million a month to a pro-Trump political action committee. Following the assassination attempt against the former president, the billionaire shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his endorsement. 

What 'big names' are endorsing Harris?

Popular celebrities from a wide range of ages have endorsed Harris. Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX, George Clooney and many others have shared their support for the vice president on social media.

Beyoncé even let Harris use her song “Freedom” in her official campaign video. The song is also her walkout song for rallies, which is rare for the superstar.

According to AP, celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Lil Jon, Eva Longoria, and many others showed up to show support for Harris and Tim Walz at the Democratic National Convention,

Megan Thee Stallion performed at a Harris rally in Atlanta. While on stage, the rapper said:

“Now I know my ladies in the crowd love their bodies. And if you want to keep loving your body, you know who to vote for.”

John Legend has also shown public support for Harris. The singer shared a post showing his support for Harris following President Joe Biden stepping out of the presidential race, saying he planned to help her any way he could.

What generation is each campaign trying to appeal to?

Based on the celebrities who have endorsed Trump, his campaign could appeal to the older generations. Many celebrities endorsing Trump are a part of Generation X, with a few being baby boomers and even fewer members of Gen-Z. Recently, to gain more attention from younger generations, Trump did a live stream with popular streamer, Adin Ross. Ross, 23, is one of the youngest public figures to show support for the former president.

Harris is using marketing tactics that are meant to appeal to younger generations like Gen-Z and Millennials. So far, she has used popular celebrities and social media to engage voters. Harris’s main campaign page on social media is KamalaHQ. Across all platforms, her campaign has been posting current trends and popular songs.

How does each candidate use social media for their campaign?

Trump is no stranger to the use of social media. According to AP, when his Twitter account was banned in 2021, he had more than 57,000 tweets. Currently, the main form of social media Trump posts on is his platform, Truth Social. This platform is similar to X and allows him to share messages with his supporters. Besides public rallies, this is the main way Trump communicates with his supporters. Since his campaign, which began in November 2022, Trump has posted on Truth Social about 29 times a day, according to Business Insider.

Kamala Harris has been very active on social media since stepping into the presidential race. Since July 21, she has posted over 70 times on TikTok alone. The Harris campaign has also embraced the memes about her, using them to build engagement on social media.

Her TikTok page alone has over three-point-five million followers. Recently the term ‘Kamala is so brat’ trended after public support from British singer-songwriter Charli XCX. Following Joe Biden's endorsement of Kamala Harris, English singer-songwriter Charli XCX posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Kamala IS brat.” The post gained over 300,000 likes and 50,000 reposts. As a result, @kamalaHQ changed its social media header to feature a brat-themed photo.

“Brat” refers to the 2024 album by English singer-songwriter Charli XCX. Despite its typically negative connotation, Charli XCX's new album reinterprets “brat” as something positive. According to Charli, a brat “is that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb thing sometimes.” This term has gained attention on the internet for the summer of 2024, with many social media users saying it’s a 'brat summer.' This has caused the internet to create edits and memes of the current Vice President, many of which feature songs from Charli XCX’s “brat” album.

Alongside this, there are other memes surrounding Harris that she has used to promote her campaign. The main one is related to coconut trees. 

This comes from a speech in which Harris said:

“None of us just live in a silo. Everything is in context,” she continued. “My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes — and say to us, 'I don't know what's wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

Many users on X and TikTok make videos and remixes of popular songs with the phrase “ You think you fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” Harris’ official campaign X account even changed its name to “providing context,” referencing the meme.

These strategies have led to According to The Associated Press on Friday, July 26, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed Harris for the presidential election.

How other politicians have used pop culture

Many presidential nominees have used pop culture to try to gain attention from younger voters, but often, this can backfire.

While running for president in 2016, at a rally, Hillary Rodham Clinton said:

“I don't know who made Pokemon Go, but I'm trying to figure out how we can get them to have Pokemon Go to the polls.”

Clinton referenced the popular mobile game to appeal to younger voters, but it backfired, leading to ridicule from the public and the media.

During his presidency, Barack Obama was able to successfully integrate pop culture into his public image. Obama was known to occasionally appear on late-night television shows. According to Vox, when Obama appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, it was the first time a sitting president had been on a late-night television show. Toward the end of his presidency, he even went on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and participated in a popular segment where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves.

While president, he started a tradition of making a yearly playlist to share with his supporters, which he continues. This allowed his supporters to relate to him by seeing the songs and musicians he liked.

Things like this have made Obama what many call the first “pop culture President.”