Northwestern expert assesses impact of Oprah’s DNC appearance, celebrity endorsement
‘She still has a lot of star power as evident by her prime speaking slot last night,’ expert says
CHICAGO --- Oprah Winfrey’s surprise appearance and endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention is reminiscent of her 2007 endorsement of Barack Obama, but the objective and impact are different, says Craig Garthwaite, an expert on the impact of celebrity endorsements.
Garthwaite, a professor of strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, is available for comment on Oprah’s endorsement of Vice President Harris.
According to Garthwaite:
“This is a bit different of a situation than her endorsement of then-Senator Obama in the 2008 primary — at that time, the difference was not as much a policy difference, but a preference difference between who the people were. Now, the policies between Vice President Harris and former President Trump are quite distinct — so I have to imagine that if she is going to impact the election in the same way we estimated she impacted it for Obama, it’s much more about getting people excited and getting them to turn out as opposed to moving someone from President Trump to Vice President Harris.
“[Oprah] still has a lot of star power as evidenced by her prime speaking slot last night — though there’s a real question as to whether she has more or less star power now than Taylor Swift has. We have talked about whether Taylor Swift will endorse — and while they appeal to different demographics, that would be another endorsement that would serve as a way to excite potential voters to turn out.”
Garthwaite authored a seminal research study on the impact of Oprah’s endorsement of then-Senator Barack Obama. Garthwaite found that, in 2007, Oprah’s endorsement was worth about 1 million votes for Obama — impactful in what was a very close primary, and, coming from voters who would be expected in the absence of the endorsement to have supported then-Senator Clinton.
Garthwaite is also available for comment on his research on the 2008 election and the broader impact of celebrity endorsements in this election and in history.
If you’d like to arrange an interview with Professor Garthwaite, please reach out to Shanice Harris at shanice.harris@northwestern.edu.