Just under 1 in 5 Americans believe the singer Taylor Swift is part of a covert effort to help President Joe Biden win the 2024 election. At the same time, the Monmouth University Poll also finds that most Americans are supportive of efforts by Swift to encourage her fans to vote.

Just under half (46%) of the American public has heard something about Swift being part of a supposed covert government effort to help Biden win the 2024 presidential election. Just under 1 in 5 Americans (18%) believe such a conspiracy involving Swift exists. 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. [Monmouth will be releasing a poll on the 2024 presidential election tomorrow.] It should be noted that the group of poll respondents who accept the Swift story as fact includes some people who claim to have been unaware of it (i.e., 42% of those who say the conspiracy exists also say they had not heard about it before being contacted by Monmouth).

“The supposed Taylor Swift PsyOp conspiracy has legs among a decent number of Trump supporters. Even many who hadn’t heard about it before we polled them accept the idea as credible. Welcome to the 2024 election,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

On a less sinister note, two-thirds (68%) of the American public approves of Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming election. However, Republicans (42%) are much less supportive than Democrats (88%) and independents (71%) of these turnout efforts.

Overall, 39% of American adults have a favorable impression of Swift. Only 13% hold an unfavorable view of her, while 43% have no opinion and just 5% have not heard of the singer at all. More than 1 in 4 adults are fans of Swift’s music, including 6% who call themselves “Swifties” – the name taken on by her most ardent devotees – and 22% count themselves among her less intense fans. Interestingly, Republicans (24%) are only somewhat less likely than Democrats (33%) to say they are fans of Swift’s music. In other demographic comparisons, more women (35%) than men (22%) are fans of the singer. Also, Swift fans are more likely to be found among adults who are 35 to 55 years old (36%) than among those either ages 18 to 34 (27%) or 55 and older (22%). This is due in part to the fact that the middle age group is more likely to have children at home. Specifically, parents (33%) are more likely than non-parents (26%) to say they are fans of Swift’s music.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from February 8 to 12, 2024 with 902 adults in the United States.  The question results in this release have a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points for the full sample. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch.

QUESTIONS AND RESULTS     

(* Some columns may not add to 100% due to rounding.)

[Q1-30 held for future release.]

31/A. Have you heard of the singer Taylor Swift, or have you not heard of her at all? [If HEARD OF:] Is your general impression of Taylor Swift favorable or unfavorable, or do you have no opinion of her?

31B/C. Do you consider yourself a fan of Taylor Swift’s music, or not? [If A FAN:] Would you call yourself a “Swiftie”?

32. Do you approve or disapprove of Taylor Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming presidential election?

33. Some people say that Taylor Swift is part of a covert government effort to help Joe Biden win the presidential election. Have you heard about this idea, or not?

34. Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?

[Q35-37 held for future release.]

METHODOLOGY

The Monmouth University Poll was sponsored and conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute from February 8 to 12, 2024 with a probability-based national random sample of 902 adults age 18 and older. Interviews were conducted in English, and included 183 live landline telephone interviews, 362 live cell phone interviews, and 357 online surveys via a cell phone text invitation. Telephone numbers were selected through a mix of random digit dialing and list-based sampling. Landline respondents were selected with a modified Troldahl-Carter youngest adult household screen. Interviewing services were provided by Braun Research, with sample obtained from Dynata (RDD, n= 557), Aristotle (list, n= 152) and a panel of prior Monmouth poll participants (n= 193). Monmouth is responsible for all aspects of the survey design, data weighting and analysis. The full sample is weighted for region, age, education, gender and race based on US Census information (ACS 2021 one-year survey). For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling has a maximum margin of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points adjusted for sample design effects (1.56). Sampling error can be larger for sub-groups (see table below). In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Demographics (weighted)

Party (self-reported): 28% Republican, 40% Independent, 32% Democrat

Sex: 48% male, 51% female, 1% other

Age: 29% 18-34, 33% 35-54, 38% 55+

Race: 61% White, 12% Black, 17% Hispanic, 10% Asian/other

Education: 37% high school or less, 29% some college, 19% 4 year degree, 15% graduate degree

###