Fans Will Be Fans? Comparing Fandoms in the Political and Star Systems

Has celebrity fandom migrated into the political domain? Using cross-national survey data from seven European democracies, we compare political leader fandom and star fandom: their individual-level overlap, internal characteristics, and fans’ profiles. Across countries, star fandom is more widespread than leader fandom, apart from France and Poland—the latter having more leader fans overall. Spain has more star fans, while Germany has the lowest levels of both. Consumption patterns and community orientations converge, and citizens emotionally invested in celebrities are more likely to hold affective attachments to political leaders. Coherently, citizens outside conventional political coordinates are less likely to develop parasocial bonds with public figures of any kind. However, political fans are more likely to have attended public events in person, suggesting that digital transformation has complemented rather than replaced traditional participation. Motivations also diverge: star fandom is oriented towards the extraordinary and the appeal of figures who stand apart. Political fandom revolves, instead, around competence, political vision, and responsiveness to citizens’ concerns. This suggests that political constituencies have not been merely colonised by entertainment culture. They retain a representational logic, shaped by democratic expectations and ideologically structured, with right-leaning citizens more likely to display leader affect.