While Taylor Swift may be watching her boyfriend win the Super Bowl and performing sell-out shows, a new poll has found a third of Republicans think she is involved in a covert government effort to help Joe Biden win reelection.
The poll from Monmouth University looked to unpack the latest conspiracy theory and find out who actually believes in it.
The conspiracy first popped up among right-wing media ahead of the Super Bowl, claiming that Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is fake and their real goal is to help Democrats in the 2024 election, namely President Biden.
Before the game, claims that the NFL had “scripted” the Chiefs to win so Swift could offer an endorsement for Biden circulated conservative circles online and in the media, but despite their win, no such endorsement was made.
Swift did endorse Biden in 2020 and has encouraged fans to vote in recent years, but no evidence has surfaced showing her relationship is fake or that this was her goal.
“The supposed Taylor Swift PsyOp conspiracy has legs among a decent number of Trump supporters,” Patrick Murray, the director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. “Even many who hadn’t heard about it before we polled them accept the idea as credible.”
Overall, 46% of respondents said they were familiar with and had heard of the conspiracy, though only 18% of all adults believed it to be true. Among Republicans, that number grew to 32%.
Even more bizarre, 42% of those who believed it to be true said they hadn’t heard about it until they were contacted for the poll but quickly signed on despite doing no research. Murray says this highlights the growing political bias and predilection for conspiracy theories.
“Welcome to the 2024 election,” Murray said.
Former President Donald Trump appeared to be aware of the conspiracy, taking to social media before the Super Bowl, saying Swift would be “disloyal” to him should she endorse a Biden presidency.
“I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a Liberal and probably can’t stand me!” Trump wrote.