NewsNational NewsScripps News

Actions

Poll finds nearly 1 in 5 believe Taylor Swift election conspiracy

Data found a significant portion of the American public has heard the conspiracy theory that the pop star is part of a government election scheme.
Poll finds nearly 1 in 5 believe Taylor Swift election conspiracy
Posted
and last updated

A Monmouth University poll found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believe an election conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift is part of a government cover-up to sway voter favor to help President Joe Biden win a second term in office. 

The poll results, published this week, also found that 2 in 3 Americans approve of Swift's efforts to encourage more voters to show up at the polls and cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election. The poll found that many who believe Swift is part of an elaborate government plot to sway the presidential election also believe the outcome of the 2020 presidential election results were fraudulent. 

SEE MORE: Donna Kelce's cookie recipe on mugs is helping pay school lunch debt

According to the poll data published online by Monmouth University, almost 46% of Americans who responded said they were aware of the Swift conspiracy theory and 18% of Americans said there was an alleged effort to help President Biden. 

The poll found that out of the poll respondents who believe in the conspiracy theory, 71% of them said they are affiliated with the Republican party or lean in favor of the GOP. 

In early January, a Fox News report by host Jesse Watters pushed the so-called Swift PsyOp conspiracy theory further into the mainstream when, as Politico reported, he strongly suggested the pop star could be acting as a front for a "covert political agenda."

In a 2019 clip shown during the segment, a presenter at a conference that included the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence named Taylor Swift as an example of influencers in the media with power. 

Watters said in the segment, "It's real. The Pentagon PsyOp unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online."

The Pentagon responded by saying, "We know all too well the dangers of conspiracy theories, so to set the record straight — Taylor Swift is not part of a DOD psychological operation. Period."

The Monmouth University poll found that among those who identified with the Democrat party in the poll results, 88% said they also appreciated Swift's efforts to get more people out to the ballot box. 

Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said, "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."


Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com