Oprah says Obama. Spielberg says Clinton. Stallone says McCain. Chuck Norris says Huckabee. So, what's a voter to do?
Elections are always competitive, but this year' presidential campaign has been exceptional. And as the battle intensifies, especially on the Democratic side, more and more celebrities, politicians and even companies are weighing in on the voters' decision.
In a world of glamour and gossip, many voters are struggling to assess the role of those endorsements in the voting process.
"If you respect the person, then you'll respect their opinion," College freshman Rachael Durkin said regarding celebrities who promote candidates.
"It's common sense" who to respect and who to ignore, she added.
So far this year, young voters have become an increasingly integral part of the political process-, doubling their turnout to the polls in nearly every state compared with 2004.
In this environment, musical artists like Madonna are trying to wield as much political power on MTV as Ted Kennedy attempts to wield on CNN.
But a voter's opinion about political respectability is blurred by how each voter perceives a celebrity or politician.
For that reason, some voters are just ignoring who's voting for whom altogether.
"I don't particularly take them into account," said College freshman Amelia Van Iwaarden.
College junior Isobel Marr, an Australian exchange student, agreed that both in the United States and at home, celebrity endorsements are not very important.
"Usually, celebrities are not the people you give a lot of credit to anyway," she said.
Celebrity endorsements, however, are designed to appeal to a certain kind of audience, according to Randall Miller, a political analyst and St. Joseph's University professor of history.
Miller said that endorsements like Sen. Ted Kennedy for Obama, and 50 Cent for Hillary, present a "different pitch" to the electorate and are designed to "relate differently to different constituencies."
On Feb. 5, just in time for Super Tuesday, American Apparel endorsed Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, using younger photos of the two men on its Web site to appeal to its younger customers.
This constituency-based strategy might be paying off, too.
"For me, it's the person giving the endorsement. If it's 50 Cent or Chuck Norris, I don't really care about that. If it's a politician, then I respect that," College freshman Oren Lavie said. "[Politicians] add more legitimacy" to the candidate.
Though it's hard to measure the influence of endorsements on new voters, pop culture does play a role in the political arena.
"You don't win just because of an endorsement," Miller said, "but endorsements can help you win."
