A new poll out of Monmouth University offers a bit of hope for our democracy. Asked a series of questions about Taylor Swift, the majority of people polled (68%) said they approved of Taylor Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Adding to that good news is the fact that only 39% of the people polled had a “favorable” opinion of Swift, while 43% held no opinion, and 65% said they were “not a fan” of the popstar.
News that not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid comes after months of attacks against the musician reached a level of right-wing hysteria usually reserved only for women in politics. MAGA-extremist influencers as well as media outlets like Fox News have promoted a variety of bizarre conspiracy theories that come down to variations on the idea that the United States’ intelligence agencies are using the popularity and influence of the mega-popstar as part of a psychological operation to sway voters towards reelecting President Joe Biden in November.
The recent hysteria has been building for some time, but it kicked into a higher gear last September when Swift led a very successful campaign to get her fans to register to vote. Combined with her personal relationship with Super Bowl winner and Hall of Fame football player Travis Kelce, the United States Pentagon felt compelled to address these baseless conspiracy theories not once but twice in the last few weeks.
Not surprising, while the majority of people polled are supportive of Swift’s voter registration efforts, the splits in approval show Republicans (42%) are a lot less excited about more voting than either Democrats (88%) or independents (71%). Also not surprising are the findings that around 18% of those polled believe in some vague conspiracy theory surrounding Swift and her efforts to promote voting in order to help Biden win.
Fully 71% of those who believe this identify with or lean toward the Republican Party and 83% indicate they are likely to support Donald Trump in the fall. Also, nearly three-quarters (73%) of those who believe the Swift conspiracy also believe the 2020 election outcome was fraudulent.
MAGA-attitudes (MAGA-tudes?) and the “Stop the Steal” campaign have shown there is a certain section of the voter population willing to believe everything from Hillary Clinton running a secret sex trafficking ring for the elite out of a pizza shop to the fantasy that the best solution to America’s problems is the corrupt blunt object called Donald Trump.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
