If you had to choose between [imagine your favorite celeb] or a well qualified political leader for president, where would your vote fall? This is complicated, it shouldn’t be, but it is.
First, let's start by taking the case in which a politically uninformed citizen decides to vote and findS out that a famous celebrity of their preference is also qualified to run for office. We don't have to look far to see this thought experiment play out in reality. When Vijay announced his run for chief minister it posed unintended consequences that took root in the most influenced generation—teenagers. Classmates and friends who had never once initiated conversations about governance or politics were suddenly cornering teachers, debating fictional voting choices and defending political platforms they just learned existed.
Why? Because the human brain is wired for familiarity. Traditionally, political candidates spend years trying to gain the trust of their voters—crafting policies and agendas that speak to the public. A celebrity, however, gets exempt from this process. A staggering 60-85% of American voters are politically uninformed; if this situation finds itself in reality can you imagine the effect this would have on elections?
For a celebrity politician, explanations on fiscal policy and taxes aren’t necessary to sway the uninformed public. There is a psychological effect called the "Halo Effect” which illuminates the human cognitive bias that we have based on an overall impression of a person when it comes to other unrelated traits. The part of the population that has already developed a parasocial relationship with a celebrity off the political arena through years of media exposure will irrevocably have a differing political opinion that someone evaluating that person based on their actual administrative capability.
Sure, being a Hollywood personality or an influencer gets you recognition without lifting a finger—it gives you power that may take years to culminate for others. But like the cliched saying “With great power comes great responsibility”, it is what you do with that power of fame that gets you to where you want. And again, we don't have to look into hypothetical scenarios to understand this difference.
Unlike Kanye West (yes you hear me right, he did indeed attempt to run for president in 2020), Ronald Reagan did not jump from stardom to the White House. Though Reagan became a household name due to his Hollywood success, he spent nearly 15 years garnering political experience and a name in politics; he served as the governor of California for 2 terms,, and spent years assimilating into the two party system of the United States, campaigning for other republican candidates and ingraining his name into the parties history. Kanye on the other hand, well, he missed the deadline to actually run for either party though he leaned heavily towards the conservative right. Donald Trump was the incumbent republican presidential candidate and hence Kanye could not run for the primaries. Though he did claim that if Trump wasn’t there he definitely would have been affiliated with the Republicans. Instead he created his own party—the Birthday Party as quote “if we win it’ll be everybody's birthday”. Lacking any institutional infrastructure, his campaign operated as a chaotic circle of shifting advisors and consultants. As a result, his team completely fumbled the basic mechanics of election law, missing critical state deadlines and failing to secure ballot access in 38 out of 50 states.
Reagan's platform was built on a highly disciplined three-pronged message: free-market economics (Reaganomics), traditional social conservatism, and a fiercely muscular foreign policy against the Soviet Union. His communication style earned him the nickname "The Great Communicator" because he could distill complex institutional goals into simple, resonant narrative ideas for the public.
The halo effect was realised in the elections for Kanye, however; he only amassed 60,000 votes. But the precedent to what happened before elections is the dangerous reality of cognitive bias and the influence of name. The 140 character twitter post "We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION" got nearly half a million likes and even the endorsement of Elon Musk. Every major political network—from CNN and MSNBC to Fox News—ran primetime segments analyzing his potential to act as a "spoiler" candidate who could siphon votes away from the major parties.
Google Searches for "Kanye West" and "How to vote for Kanye" spiked by thousands of percent overnight. For a brief window, he completely dictated the narrative of the American presidential race without having published a single policy proposal.
Just imagine, if a 140 character tweet from a celebrity had this much traction…what would be the consequences of just a little more structure and adherence to deadlines?