Real World
Bruce Springsteen And Presidential Politics
Monday, March 16, 2026 Entry #218
Back in 2004, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band headlined a number of concerts on an ad hoc, star-studded tour entitled “Vote for Change.” The goal of the multistate outing was to motivate young people to register to vote ahead of the presidential election between the Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, and the Republican incumbent, President George W. Bush. While “Vote for Change” was officially non-partisan, it became clear over the forty shows that the political allegiances of the performers were with Kerry. Then, in the days before Election Day, Springsteen made his support for the Democrat explicit by performing his songs “Promised Land,” “No Surrender,” and “Thunder Road” at four Kerry rallies held in some of the states where the races were tight. Though Springsteen had long spoken out on political issues and participated in benefit concerts to support social causes (See Entry #217), that was the first time he had lent his talent, convictions, and celebrity to a candidate for President of the United States.
Though Kerry lost the election, Springsteen has continued since then to publicly support and perform on behalf of Democratic presidential candidates. In fact, during the very next election, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, the 2008 nominee that Springsteen supported and actively campaigned for, not only won the presidency, but he also became Springsteen’s personal friend and creative collaborator.
I am currently reading Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of Mark Twain, and it is intriguing to learn that Twain, like Springsteen a cultural chronicler of the American experience, had personal relationships with a number of U.S. presidents and presidential candidates (as well as with several high profile abolitionist activists). Clearly, Springsteen’s activities in the presidential arena have historical antecedents. As Melissa Ziobro of the Springsteen Center for American Music wrote about Springsteen and Obama:
“They are complementary figures in a long American tradition: the artist and the statesman, each translating the same anxieties and aspirations into different forms. Their relationship reminds us that politics and culture are not separate arenas, but overlapping ways of making sense of national life.”
This post contains links to all of my entries so far about Bruce Springsteen’s forays into the world of U.S. Presidents and presidential candidates. Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and even (in an adversarial sense), Donald Trump all make appearances in these posts.
I am starting this compilation with President Obama. I humbly believe that my multiple posts on the topic provide a very comprehensive and heartfelt look at the Springsteen-Obama relationship to date:
Springsteen did appear at an election eve rally for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but the pandemic sidelined much of public campaigning in 2020, including the chance for any Springsteen performances. However, when President Biden planned his inaugural celebration, Bruce Springsteen was chosen to kick off the proceedings:
Springsteen was reactivated during the 2024 presidential election, a cycle which saw the vice-presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, reveal himself to be a Bruce Springsteen superfan:
This next post covers Springsteen’s endorsement of and appearances for the 2024 Democratic nominee for president, Vice-President Kamala Harris:
Unlike with the other presidents and presidential candidates I have written about, Bruce Springsteen’s relationship with President Donald Trump has been incredibly adversarial. The very long essay that launched this blog includes some of Springsteen’s most biting critical comments about Trump from back in his first term:
This next batch of posts concern the latest chapters in the Springsteen-Trump saga. The first two, the highest “rated” entries in the history of my writing about Springsteen, cover the anti-Trump messages that Bruce Springsteen delivered on his 2025 tour in Europe. Now, back in the U.S., Springsteen has recently released a powerful new song blasting President Trump’s treatment of immigrants and protesters. A new domestic tour looms with an explicitly anti-Trump agenda. Three 2026 posts bring us up to the current moment, with the opening concert of Springsteen’s “No Kings” tour in Minneapolis just a few weeks away:
I am going to link to the following essay here and in the next compilation entry as well. It contains my reflections on driving through Trump country (on my way to see Springsteen in Canada) just a few days after the 2024 election:
Shortly after leaving office, President Harry S Truman and his wife Bess took an unescorted 19-day, 2,500-mile road trip from Independence, Missouri to the East Coast and back. I lift that factoid up here because it provides a nice transition from my Springsteen posts about presidents to the next entry which will be a compilation of my Springsteen-related travelogue missives from the open highway.