Celebrities have a ‘powerful’ ability to influence elections and increase voter turnout, a Harvard study found.

‘While some polling shows that people claim they aren’t influenced by celebrity voices when it comes to politics, more rigorous evidence indicates that these voices are incredibly powerful,’ reads a study conducted by Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. ‘Nonprofits report higher rates of online voter registration or poll worker sign-ups when a celebrity promotes these calls to action. This potential impact is why nonprofits, candidates, and elected officials are increasingly seeking ways to engage celebrities.’

Researchers working on the study analyzed the approaches of 15 managers, publicists, nonprofit partners, philanthropic advisers and celebrities, including well-known names such as Hailey Bieber, David Dobrik, Billie Eilish, Trevor Noah, Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington and The Roots co-founder and drummer Questlove.

‘Celebrities, like all of us, face choices about how to engage in democracy. For example, they can serve as surrogates for political candidates, helping to ‘rally the base’ or reach new audiences,’ the study reads, adding that there is also evidence that ‘celebrities can help with candidate fundraising, attracting large crowds to political events or volunteer shifts, which draws press attention.’

Overall, the researchers found that celebrities are motivated to activism not only because of their beliefs, but because it can also be ‘good for their brands,’ something that was supported by a previous study on the issue.

‘It helps your audience stay connected to you—a connection based on values, which humanizes an artist and a celebrity in a way that the audience then feels like they know you. And then, when your next film or album comes out, this audience that’s connected to you wants to support you, wants to show up,’ Questlove’s Manager Dawn White told researchers.

The study argues that the impact celebrities have can be massive, pointing to a 2018 Instagram story posted by Swift to her 112 million followers to register to vote at vote.org. That one post led to 65,000 new registrants in 24 hours and 250,000 over 72 hours.

Swift has continued to make similar posts over the years since, while her following has more than doubled to 283 million over the same time period.

Researchers found that celebrities have a more profound impact on ‘younger generations,’ which are not as easy to reach through traditional ‘mainstream media and other get-out-the-vote efforts.’

‘Their control of and presence on social media positions them as centralized sources of information to be tapped into and utilized by those looking to increase voter participation,’ the study reads.

However, the research also found that celebrity impact has been limited by a lack of organization, including a lack of formal programs that would allow them to test and track their efforts.

‘Consequently, there is an extraordinary opportunity and potential to grow, mature, and formalize celebrity civic engagement efforts, which can significantly impact civic culture,’ the study included. ‘That being said, the available data indicate that some approaches work better than others.’

The favorability ratings of both Vice President Harris and former President Trump are on the rise as a greater number of Americans are saying they are ‘extremely motivated’ to vote in this November’s election, a new poll has found. 

The Pew Research Center survey of 9,201 adults – including 7,569 registered voters – has revealed that Harris’ overall favorability rating has increased from 36% to 44% since May, while Trump’s has gone up from 39% to 42%. 

Among voters who identify as Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents, Harris’ approval has jumped from 65% to 83%, while Trump’s is at 79% among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 

Nationally, Harris is slightly leading Trump among all voters, 46% to 45%, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trails in third with 7%, according to the poll. 

The poll also found that 70% of Harris supporters are saying they are ‘extremely motivated’ to vote, up from 63% of Biden supporters who felt the same way in early July when he was still in the presidential race. 

Meanwhile, 72% of Trump supporters that were surveyed reported feeling the same way, up from 63% in July. 

Even though Biden has abandoned his re-election bid, the poll found that he still has just a 37% approval rating among the American public. 

But one number that has changed is the number of ‘double negative’ voters who earlier this year indicated to pollsters that they did not like either candidate, according to the Pew Research Center. 

In May, a quarter of American voters said they held both unfavorable views of Trump and Biden, but now with Harris in the race, that number has fallen to 14%. 

The poll was conducted from Aug. 5-11. 

During an ongoing lawsuit aimed at forcing the Justice Department (DOJ) to produce records from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s probe into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents before being elected president, the DOJ revealed the discovery of 117 pages of transcribed discussions between the president and his ghostwriter.

The find was highlighted Wednesday by the Oversight Project, a conservative government transparency watchdog that sued the DOJ.

The ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, was previously subject to a March subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee, which sought any and all documents, contracts and recordings of interviews and conversations with Biden.

However, Oversight Project counsel Kyle Brosnan said on Wednesday this particular revelation is both new and further animates the need for transparency in regard to questions about Biden’s competency.

Brosnan said that just prior to the Oversight Project’s last hearing on the matter, the Justice Department informed the court of the transcripts.

‘There do exist written transcripts of President Biden’s interviews with his ghostwriter where they discuss classified material, and that Special Counsel Hur relied upon those written transcripts in coming to his conclusions [that Biden was a ‘well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory’].’

The memoir Zwonitzer assisted with, ‘Promise Me, Dad,’ was released in 2017.

‘The discovery of those materials has been the subject of a lot of back-and-forth between us and the Justice Department about how we want to proceed,’ Brosnan added.

‘We’re trying to figure out how that discovery impacts the case and kind of what the next steps are there.’

According to a court filing obtained by Fox News Digital, Justice Department officials flagged the apparent discovery to the bench and plaintiff Mike Howell, Brosnan’s colleague and the executive director of the Oversight Project.

The officials wrote that in their prior June court appearance they attested that Hur’s office did not have a verbatim transcript of any Zwonitzer-Biden recordings.

The DOJ then noted Howell’s team ‘questioned this representation’ and pointed out a footnote in a document that supposedly suggested it was sourced from a transcript.

When the department could not reach anyone with knowledge of special counsel office files, they reached out directly to Hur, who confirmed the files were indeed transcripts of a subset of Zwonitzer-Biden recordings.

Brosnan confirmed negotiations with the DOJ are now ongoing as to how to handle the new tranche.

‘There’s over 70 hours of tapes between Biden and Zwonitzer. So, that’s obviously a lot of material that’s going to take the Justice Department a long time to process,’ he said. 

As for his team’s larger legal beef with the DOJ – the exertion of executive privilege over the Hur tapes – Brosnan said one of the administration’s major claims appeares to be undermined by the former official they cited.

After Congress was given a transcript of the Hur-Biden interview, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s 2008 memo shielding White House interoffice communications was cited by the Biden administration as part of its executive privilege argument.

However, Mukasey himself said in a June court filing that while he supports the tool of executive privilege, the Biden administration’s assertion is ‘flawed.’

‘I believe the assertion of executive privilege made here goes well beyond the limits of any prior assertion and is not supported by the 2008 executive privilege letter.’

‘The reasons given for invoking this privilege are entirely unconvincing,’ Mukasey, who served under former President George W. Bush, wrote of Biden.

The Justice Department declined comment for the purposes of this story.

The Democratic candidate for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, posted to X on Wednesday agreeing to a debate Oct. 1 on CBS News.

Walz’s reply came in response to CBS News listing potential dates in an X post for Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance to debate on the network.

Tim Walz re-posted the graphic, saying ‘See you on Oct. 1, JD.’

Vance had not yet responded to the debate proposal publicly. Vance and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

According to a Harris campaign official, ‘Harris for President has accepted CBS’ invitation to a vice presidential candidate debate on October 1. Governor Walz looks forward to debating JD Vance — if he shows up.’

According to CBS, four dates were proposed: Sept. 17, Sept, 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8.

The Harris campaign appears to be offering maximum inclusivity with unlimited preferred pronoun options for potential new hires to choose from when filling out their applications. 

Immediately after supplying one’s full name and resume, Harris for President job applicants are given a menu of pronouns to choose from, including identifiers such as ‘Fae/faer,’ ‘Hu/hu,’ ‘Ey/em,’ and ‘Xe/xem,’ among others. If, for some reason, none of the nine recommended pronouns the Harris campaign lists work for an applicant, they can check a box that reads ‘Custom’ and enter in whatever pronouns they want. 

In addition to its unlimited array of pronoun options, the Harris campaign’s job applications also ask potential new hires to explain how they will ‘contribute to building a diverse culture’ if they are hired. Meanwhile, the applications include a so-called ‘optional’ diversity survey, which the campaign says helps them ‘evaluate our diversity and inclusion efforts.’ The survey asks applicants to once again identify their preferred pronouns, as well as their gender identity and whether they are gay or straight.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response. 

Earlier this month, a resurfaced clip of Vice President Kamala Harris from 2017 showed the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee calling on ‘everybody’ to be ‘woke.’

‘We have to stay woke. Like everybody needs to be woke,’ then-senator Harris said during a 2017 conference. ‘And you can talk about if you’re the wokest or woker, but just stay more woke than less woke.’ Harris also followed up the next day reiterating her comments in a post on X, formerly Twitter, stating, ‘We have to stay active. We have to stay woke.’

A few days prior to that clip surfacing, Harris also drew mockery from the internet when another clip resurfaced of Harris introducing herself with her name, pronouns and descriptions of her clothing to a group that was visually impaired. ‘Good afternoon. I want to welcome these leaders for coming in to have this very important discussion about some of the most pressing issues of our time,’ a masked up Harris said at the roundtable event discussing the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision and its impact on people with disabilities. ‘I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her. I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit.’ Other guests at the table followed suit with similar introductions.

Harris officially took over the Democratic nomination for president on Aug. 5, after President Joe Biden bowed to intra-party pressure over his cognitive decline and announced he would not continue to seek reelection. Upon her entrance into the race, Harris was lauded in the media for her identity politics, including her position as a ‘daughter of immigrants,’ ‘the first female vice president in U.S. history,’ and ‘the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket.’

While running the first time around in 2020 to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Harris purposely highlighted her female pronouns when talking about the presidency. She shared why in a 2019 article from Buzzfeed News.

‘I’m articulating it more than I have before, but I’ve always been very aware that for these jobs, we’re asking people to see what they’ve not seen before,’ Harris told Buzzfeed in response to questions about her choice of words. It’s necessary, Harris continued, ‘especially in light of the whole discussion about ‘electability,’ which drives me bananas. It’s important for people to understand that they have to really check how they’re thinking about these things. But we have to help along the way, and part of it is about how we use language.’