Which Celebrities Support Which Presidential Candidate?
By April Jones
Celebrities from various industries have voiced their support for one presidential candidate over the other. We’ll take a look at who supports Clinton and who is backing Trump.
Republican nominee Donald Trump didn’t seem to have a problem with calling on celebrities to support their favorite presidential candidate until recently. In fact, Trump was pretty proud of the celebrities who spoke in his favor at the Republican National Convention. Among them were Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr., and Willie Robertson. (For those of you staring at your screen right now and asking “Who?”, Baio and Sabato Jr. used to be TV actors and Robertson is one of the Duck Dynasty guys.)
CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 04: Beyonce performs on stage during a Get Out The Vote concert in support of Hillary Clinton at Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio on November 4, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images)
Now that Clinton has A-listers like Beyonce and Jay Z rallying behind her, suddenly Trump thinks that celebrity appearances are “demeaning to the political process.” And yet earlier in the day, Trump invited Ted Nugent to join him in Michigan.
Whether or not a celebrity’s endorsement carries much weight is up for debate. If you’re interested in finding out more about which famous people are supporting which candidate, here’s a quick list to get you started.
In Trump’s corner, we have a handful of has-beens like Dennis Rodman and Kid Rock. Rodman, a former contestant on Celebrity Apprentice, tweeted “@realDonaldTrump has been a great friend for many years. We don’t need another politician, we need a businessman like Mr Trump! Trump 2016.” Kid Rock also claims that Trump’s business experience makes him qualified for the job.
PHILADELPHIA, July 27, 2016 — Actress Meryl Streep speaks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States on July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi via Getty Images)
Standing behind Hillary Clinton are some real heavy hitters from both the music and movie industries. Meryl Streep spoke in support of Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, and singer Alicia Keys performed during the event. Also in attendance, either on stage or in the crowd, were Eva Longoria, Bradley Cooper, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Speaking of athletes, Tom Brady expressed his support of Trump as did professional golfer Natalie Gulbis. Clinton, on the other hand, has received support from Alex Rodriguez, Magic Johnson, NFL legend Jim Brown, Carmelo Anthony, and Steph Curry among others.
Some of Trump’s supporters aren’t so much pro-Trump as they are anti-Hillary. For example, Roseanne Barr stated “I think we would be so lucky if Trump won because then it wouldn’t be Hilary.” Actress Susan Sarandon was such a firm Bernie Sanders supporter that she now refuses to support Clinton and will vote for Jill Stein instead which is sort of an indirect vote for Trump.
Although Clinton may be disappointed to not have the votes of Barr and Sarandon, she can find comfort in the fact that she has support from Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Uzo Aduba, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Elizabeth Banks. Meanwhile, Trump has Tila Tequila and Gary Busey at his table.
Washington, DC On Tuesday, June 14, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Kerry Washington, Actress, gives remarks, at The White House Summit on The United State of Women. (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Some of the celebrity endorsements aren’t really too surprising. Among Trump supporters are people like Sarah Palin and Stacey Dash and Clinton supporters include Kerry Washington and Matt Damon. There’s some division in the Baldwin family, with Celebrity Apprentice contestant Stephen Baldwin backing Trump while his more famous older brother Alec Baldwin is a Clinton backer which may be why he’s having so much fun appearing as Trump on Saturday Night Live.
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The list of celebrity endorsements goes on and on with even more revealing their preferred candidate within the last few days before the election. How much consideration do you give to the political preferences of actors and musicians? Are you disappointed that your favorite athlete leans one way or the other?