A lot of American influencers push their audience to go vote during voting season. Do you notice these? Does this happen in Europe?

2 comments

1. Not in the same, partisan, way, as in the US; most parties don’t have celebrity endorsements. There are celebrities who become active in party politics, but they’re rare.

   That said, it is not uncommon to see celebrities remind people to go vote. And sometimes you see celebrities participate in the public debate, particularly writers and other “high culture” personalities, with concerns regarding the cultural sector; but again, they don’t endorse certain parties.

   In local politics, you sometimes see old athletes pursue a career in politics. Currently the municipality of Viborg has Ulrik Wilborg, former trainer of the national handball team and high level triple and long jump athlete, as mayor.

2. We see this in the USA. But the situation in the US is quite different from Europe.

   In Germany, it’s easier to vote, so voter turnout is not such a big issue here. Many Germans, myself included, see it as their civic duty to go to the polls. For comparison, even in the very heated campaign between Biden and Trump, turnout was 66.3%, the lowest turnout in Germany was 70.3% in 2009, in the last election it was 76.6%.

   I would also say that influencers, athletes, actors or musicians have a very different status in the US than in Europe/Germany, everything you do is in the public eye, you are realy a fucking star.

   And what is above all an important difference is that you have two clearly defined blocs with the Republicans and Democrats.

   We don’t have that in Germany, we currently have 6 parties in the Bundestag. Socialists, Greens, Social Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives and right-wing nationalists.

   Even though there is basically a more left-wing and a more right-wing camp, coalitions between the blocs are common, camp thinking is much less pronounced.

   And as already written above, Germany is somewhat different from the USA when it comes to stars. As a “star” in Germany, you are rarely approached about politics and most people don’t want to hear their opinion. What happens relatively often is that stars warn against voting for the extreme right.