About 18 percent of Americans say the conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift participating in a covert government operation to reelect President Biden is really true, according to a Monmouth University poll.
Of those who believe in the conspiracy, 71 percent identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 83 percent say they are likely to support former president Donald Trump if he is the Republican candidate in November, according to Monmouth.
About 68 percent say they approve of Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming elections, Monmouth found.
Swift has been increasingly engaged in politics, even driving spikes in voter registration, and endorsed Biden in 2020.
Conspiracy theories about Swift being controlled by powerful men have circulated online for a while. But theories about Swift’s involvement in the upcoming presidential election soared in December 2023, right after she was named Time magazine’s person of the year.
Last month, a former Trump administration official shared on X, formerly Twitter, a video that he erroneously described as “the incredible moment” when a representative from the Pentagon “pitched NATO’s military psyops center on turning Taylor Swift into an asset.” Within hours, X owner Elon Musk raised the profile of that social media post, and the video was featured on a Fox News show hosted by Jesse Watters.
“Even mild conspiracy theories have the sort of negative effect that it makes it easier to believe other conspiracy theories,” said Richard Greene, a philosophy professor at Weber State University and co-author of a book on conspiracy theories.
Of those who believe in the conspiracy, 71 percent identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 83 percent say they are likely to support former president Donald Trump if he is the Republican candidate in November, according to Monmouth.
About 68 percent say they approve of Swift encouraging her fans to vote in the upcoming elections, Monmouth found.
Swift has been increasingly engaged in politics, even driving spikes in voter registration, and endorsed Biden in 2020.
Conspiracy theories about Swift being controlled by powerful men have circulated online for a while. But theories about Swift’s involvement in the upcoming presidential election soared in December 2023, right after she was named Time magazine’s person of the year.
Last month, a former Trump administration official shared on X, formerly Twitter, a video that he erroneously described as “the incredible moment” when a representative from the Pentagon “pitched NATO’s military psyops center on turning Taylor Swift into an asset.” Within hours, X owner Elon Musk raised the profile of that social media post, and the video was featured on a Fox News show hosted by Jesse Watters.
“Even mild conspiracy theories have the sort of negative effect that it makes it easier to believe other conspiracy theories,” said Richard Greene, a philosophy professor at Weber State University and co-author of a book on conspiracy theories.