Two Hollywood celebrities spoke in support of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry during a visit to Iowa State on Thursday.

In less than 30 minutes, singer Jon Bon Jovi and actor Leonardo DiCaprio each gave stump speeches encouraging students to vote for Kerry and prove pollsters wrong.

“They say young people don’t vote, and that attitude is prevalent in polling,” said Bon Jovi, who appeared first. “How many of you have cell phones? … If they would only call you on those cell phones, they’d get a much more accurate picture of how this election is going to go.”

Both celebrities were greeted by a loudly clamoring crowd of more than 500 students and Kerry supporters in the Design Building atrium. Even more students lined up along the main stairway and on balconies on each floor of the five-story building, hanging signs over the sides with statements like, “Bon Jovi for President.”

Bon Jovi said he became a Kerry supporter in a strange way — when he realized he was part of the 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers who would benefit from President Bush’s tax cuts.

“At first I thought, ‘Hey, cool,’ but then I realized that he is creating a society of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots,'” he said.

“I think it’s important that I stand up and say ‘That’s not acceptable.”

After Bon Jovi left the stage, DiCaprio came out, flashing a peace sign. Reading from note cards, he mostly emphasized the importance of the environment and how Kerry would work to protect it.

“We are not powerless; we care about these issues as much as anyone else,” DiCaprio said.

“This may very well be the most important election of our lifetimes; we cannot afford to be disinterested, we cannot afford to be impartial. We need to vote for Kerry Nov. 2.”

Maggie Hesby, freshman in art and design, stood on a table in the rear of the atrium so she could see during the speeches. Hesby said she came to the rally both because she supports Kerry and she really wanted to see both DiCaprio and Bon Jovi.

“I was really excited,” she said. “I still thought Leo did a good job, even though he read off those note cards.”

Peter Lucas, sophomore in mechanical engineering, wasn’t so impressed.

“I found it really hard to take Leonardo seriously,” he said.

John Arduini, freshman in pre-architecture, said he came out of his class in the Design Building to attend the rally. He said he agreed with some things the celebrities said, but the hype surrounding the rally was just because of the names.

“Bon Jovi didn’t have a lot to say, but he was a pretty good speaker,” Arduini said. “DiCaprio had a lot to say, but he wasn’t such a good speaker.”

Aaron Geppert, junior in community and regional planning, also came out of his class in the Design Building to watch the rally from the third floor. Geppert said he is voting for Bush, but he just came to see what DiCaprio and Bon Jovi had to say.

“You know pretty much the content, but I just wanted to hear from the people themselves,” Geppert said.