Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Americans are fed up with politics invading every aspect of their lives. But many can\u2019t kick the habit.<\/p>\n
Roughly 60 percent of Americans say it feels like politics are everywhere these days where it does not make sense for things to be political, according to new results from The POLITICO Poll. It\u2019s a rare point of harmony between Republicans and Democrats, with majorities of both parties also agreeing that it is becoming less important what celebrities say about politics.<\/p>\n
Unless they agree with them.<\/p>\n
The same people who want politics out of everyday life are still influenced when the celebrities\u2019 or athletes\u2019 opinions align with their own. Nearly 70 percent of voters who backed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 would think \u201cmore positively\u201d about a movie star if they spoke out against President Donald Trump. The inverse is also true: For nearly 60 percent of the president\u2019s voters, their perception of a star would improve if they expressed support for him.<\/p>\n
That picture comes into even sharper relief among the strongest partisans, who are more likely to expect that their favorite celebrities and institutions around them express their political views than those who are more in the middle.<\/p>\n
That presents a complicated and often contradictory picture of how voters engage in politics as it bleeds into their daily lives \u2014 and the precarious line celebrities and local leaders need to walk as culture and politics become hard to detangle.<\/p>\n
Celebrities and athletes have increasingly spoken out about causes like ICE crackdowns<\/a> and racial equity<\/a> on the world stage. Key culture podcasts \u2014 from the Joe Rogan Experience<\/a> to Call Her Daddy \u2014<\/a> have hosted politicians including Trump and Harris. And actors like George Clooney<\/a> were critical in calling for former President Joe Biden to end his 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone should always speak up for what they believe in,\u201d said Jordan C. Brown, a Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist who has worked with campaigns and celebrities alike. \u201cBut there is a cost, and I think I would just caution people of the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n The result is an American public that doesn\u2019t quite know what it wants, one that\u2019s tired of their lives being politicized \u2014 but are also influenced by partisan statements.<\/p>\n Majorities of both Harris and Trump voters say politics has invaded spaces where it doesn\u2019t belong, but Trump voters are more concerned than Harris voters are.<\/p>\n For example, most Trump voters (52 percent) say there is too much politics in sports, compared to 31 percent of Harris voters who say the same. In some areas of daily life \u2014 like sports, movies and on television, and music \u2014 pluralities of Harris voters say there\u2019s an acceptable amount of politics present.<\/p>\n But few Americans say they want more.<\/p>\n Some Americans also claim bringing politics into other realms doesn\u2019t affect them. A plurality of Harris voters \u2014 38 percent \u2014 say it doesn\u2019t matter to them if athletes, for example, talk about politics.<\/p>\n And yet, the poll finds, Republicans and Democrats alike actually are swayed by statements from businesses and celebrities.<\/p>\n Strong majorities report that celebrities\u2019, athletes\u2019 or even their local grocery store owners\u2019 political statements impact their views of that individual. And roughly one in five people say they have changed their own opinion on a political topic because a celebrity spoke out about it.<\/p>\n The poll results also reveal a clear pattern for when those statements matter most: Americans respond positively to them when they reflect their own world views.<\/p>\n The majority of 2024 Trump voters say they would view an athlete more positively if they made statements aligned with the president’s agenda, like \u201cWe need to crack down on the crime running rampant in our cities.\u201d On the other side, over 60 percent of Harris voters say they would think more positively about athletes who make statements like \u201cWe need to tax the richest people in this country.\u201d That\u2019s true even for voters on both sides who said there is \u201ctoo much\u201d politics in sports.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a familiar phenomenon, according to Shaun Harper, a University of Southern California professor who has researched athletes\u2019 political activism. He described the \u201c\u2018I don’t want politics in my sports unless they’re my politics\u2019\u201d mindset as \u201canti-democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unfair to athletes and to our democracy to expect them to only selectively leverage their platforms and their free speech rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The strongest partisans are even more curious about what local, religious and cultural leaders have to say compared with those in the center.<\/p>\n More than one-third of Trump voters who self-identify as \u201cMAGA Republicans\u201d, the president\u2019s most loyal base, say religious institutions should make their views clear to their followers, compared to 22 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters.<\/p>\n MAGA Trump voters are also more likely to act on those political differences: Forty-three percent say they would not buy from a business that made clear it held different political views \u2014 compared with 27 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters and roughly 30 percent across all adults.<\/p>\n On the other side of the aisle, about one-third of self-identified \u201cstrong\u201d Democrats say athletes should make their political views clear, double the 16 percent of those who say they are \u201cnot strong\u201d Democrats who agree.<\/p>\n And 36 percent of \u201cstrong\u201d Democrats believe schools and universities should make their political views clear to their students, compared to 22 percent of \u201cnot strong\u201d Democrats.<\/p>\n Those who voted third party, or who didn\u2019t vote at all, are even less eager to hear about politics in their regular life: Just 12 percent say celebrities should make their political views clear to their fans. And less than 10 percent said they\u2019ve changed their opinion about a political topic because a celebrity spoke about it.<\/p>\n The results shed light on an ongoing debate as stars and campaign strategists try to figure out how \u2014 or even if \u2014 to engage celebrities with politics.<\/p>\n Finding a way to do so that doesn\u2019t damage their own careers, given the complexity of voters\u2019 and fans\u2019 partisan divides, can be difficult, the poll shows. When some voters claim to want neutrality but secretly want their favorite stars\u2019 politics to match their own, but others demand political engagement, it leaves celebrities to decide which group they can upset the least.<\/p>\n Democrats have used celebrity endorsements and surrogates in significant measure since former President Barack Obama\u2019s star-studded 2008 presidential campaign. Harris, two years ago, saw an outpouring of support for her presidential campaign from a host of VIPs: Beyonc\u00e9 and Kelly Rowland appeared at her rally in Houston, Taylor Swift posted an endorsement for the former vice president to her millions of social media followers, and Lady Gaga performed at her election-eve rally in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n But that backfired for the celebrities when Harris lost, said Todd Hawkins, a Democratic strategist and consultant based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we saw was the biggest backlash as a result of losing, folks saying celebrities should not tell us what to do, no one cares about what they think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trepidation about the partisan divide is driving many celebrities\u2019 reluctance to get involved in politics in a high-profile way \u2014 a dynamic captured by actor Jennifer Lawrence in a 2025 interview with the New York Times<\/a>, when she was asked about her willingness to speak out against Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really know if I should,\u201d she said. \u201cBut as we\u2019ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I\u2019m just sharing my opinion on something that\u2019s going to add fuel to a fire that\u2019s ripping the country apart.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, actor and entrepreneur Selena Gomez posted \u2014 and later deleted \u2014 a tearful video responding to immigration crackdowns that drew criticism from the right<\/a>. And Hunter Hess, an Olympic freestyle skier, drew heat from Trump<\/a> for saying that representing the U.S. in the Games \u201cbrings up mixed emotions\u201d after Alex Pretti and Ren\u00e9e Good were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re very concerned, they’re scared as hell, but they were scared last year more than anything,\u201d Hawkins said of celebrities. \u201cI still see trepidation on how and what they will do to be engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n The connection between politics and pop culture, however, will hardly dissolve anytime soon, said Brown, the LA-based Democratic strategist: \u201cThere’s that phrase: the only thing Hollywood and D.C. love more than themselves are each other.\u201d<\/p>\nVoters still care about where celebrities and institutions stand<\/h4>\n
The most politically engaged voters are the ones who care most<\/h4>\n
Celebrities are already less willing to engage with partisan politics<\/h4>\n