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Messi, Ronaldo, and the politics of celebrity elections : voting for the best soccer player in the world
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Anderson, Christopher, Arrondel, Luc, Blais, André, Daoust, Jean-Francois, Laslier, Jean-Francois and Straeten, Karine van der (2020) Messi, Ronaldo, and the politics of celebrity elections : voting for the best soccer player in the world. Perspectives on Politics, 18 (1). pp. 91-110. doi:10.1017/S1537592719002391 ISSN 1537-5927.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592719002391
Abstract
It is widely assumed that celebrities are imbued with political capital and the power to move opinion. To understand the sources of that capital in the specific domain of sports celebrity, we investigate the popularity of global soccer superstars. Specifically, we examine players’ success in the Ballon d’Or – the most high profile contest to select the world’s best player. Based on historical election results as well as an original survey of soccer fans, we find that certain kinds of players are significantly more likely to win the Ballon d’Or. Moreover, we detect an increasing concentration of votes on these kinds of players over time, suggesting a clear and growing hierarchy in the competition for soccer celebrity. Further analyses of support for the world’s two best players in 2016 (Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) show that, if properly adapted, political science concepts like partisanship have conceptual and empirical leverage in ostensibly non-political contests.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure J Political Science > JA Political science (General) |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Soccer players, Ronaldo, Cristiano, 1985-, Soccer, Popularity, Messi, Lionel, 1987-, Elections | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Perspectives on Politics | ||||||||
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1537-5927 | ||||||||
Official Date: | March 2020 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 18 | ||||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 91-110 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1017/S1537592719002391 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This article has been accepted for publication in a revised form for publication in Perspectives on Politics https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © American Political Science Association 2019 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 27 February 2019 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 27 February 2019 | ||||||||
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