The year is coming to an end, which was marked by a particularly memorable election. We saw President-elect Donald Trump emerge victorious once more against Vice President Kamala Harris, with Republicans also gaining control of the Senate and keeping control of the House. It was a particularly high profile race for Harris, who had been installed as the nominee with only about 100 days to campaign, both with the money she spent and the celebrity endorsements she had, and yet she still lost. Harris may or may not be the Democrats' favorite once again for 2028. Speaking of the celebrity endorsements, will we see that as well for future elections and political issues in general?
Last week, AP-NORC put out a poll with quite the major takeaway when it comes to celebrities weighing in. It was a finding from an overall poll on how "Most adults feel the need to limit political news consumption due to fatigue and information overload."
Just 24 percent of overall respondents say they "strongly/somewhat approve" of celebrities speaking out on political issues. A plurality, at 39 percent, say they "strongly/somewhat disapprove." Just 12 percent of Independents and 11 percent of Republicans fall into the "strongly/somewhat approve" category.
That being said, 39 percent of Democrats still "strongly/somewhat approve," about even with the 40 percent who "neither approve nor disapprove." Given how much Democrats look to keep losing, after they lost so spectacularly in November, it's not surprising that they're so far off from the rest of the public on this issue. That being said, as Brad covered last month, a Rasmussen poll found that Democrats were especially not swayed by celebrity endorsements.
Similarly, just 25 percent of overall respondents say they "strongly/somewhat approve" of large companies getting involved and just 26 percent of overall respondents say the same about professional athletes.
Americans are more supportive of small businesses getting involved in businesses. A plurality, at 43 percent say they're "strongly/somewhat supportive." Almost half, at 49 percent, of Democrats say they are. Forty-one percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Independents say so.
Americans want to hear less about politics from public figures — and Republicans really don't want to hear it, according to a new poll by AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago.
— Sharma (@bansisharma) December 27, 2024
After an election season where endorsements from celebrities… pic.twitter.com/z55pImiejJ
With any luck, celebrities will get the hint and stay out of politics. Harris received Taylor Swift's endorsement in an Instagram post from September 10, moments after that presidential debate between Harris and Trump. And yet Harris still lost. Swift's endorsement didn't help. In fact, if anything, that endorsement turned voters off. Swift has enough going for her already, she doesn't need to get involved in politics and alienate fans.
There's also a finding about avoiding politics overall. "Most adults feel the need to limit their media consumption about government and politics," a graphic included in the poll mentioned. Overall, 65 percent of respondents want to limit consumption, with even more Democrats, at 72 percent saying so. That's not exactly shocking, given such heavy losses from November. A small majority overall, at 51 percent, say the same about "overseas conflicts." Democrats are the most likely to say so, with 54 percent saying they want to limit medias consumption on such a topic. President Joe Biden did create chaos on the world stage, likely embarrassing them in this regard.
The poll was conducted December 5-9, and surveyed 1,251 adults. There was a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
That being said, even with the fatigue of politics and political information, polls have shown other hopeful information for the new year that's about to begin. Earlier last week, as we also covered, CBS News put out a poll on how Americans are feeling more "hopeful" for 2025 than they were to 2024, with many saying it's thanks to Trump being president once again.
