There may just be some hope remaining for America yet.
Here’s the good news: A recent poll showed that if the election were held today and the major candidates were former Republican President Donald Trump, pop music icon Taylor Swift representing the Democratic Party, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running as an independent, Trump would win handily.
Here’s the bad news: Someone at UMass Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion thought that it would be a good idea to ask people this question.
Trump came out on top by a margin of 17 points, with 43 to Swift’s 26 percent. Kennedy staggered into a third-place finish with 12 percent, less than half of Swift’s showing.
If I were Kennedy, I’d be talking to some of my campaign people right about now.
Donald Trump (R) 43% (+17) Taylor Swift (D) 26% Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (I) 12% Other 7% . Joe Biden (D) 42% (+18) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (I) 24% Kanye West (R) 6% Other 15%
Presented without comment: 51 percent of those identifying themselves as Democrats went for Swift, as did 56 percent of those calling themselves liberals, versus only 3 percent of Republicans and 4 percent of conservatives.
Insert your own joke about relative IQ levels here. (I’m a part-time pastor, so I’m supposed to be nice.)
Are you voting for Trump?
Yes: 100% (29 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Incidentally, Swift, at 34, is too young to serve as president, as the Constitution mandates a minimum age of 35. She won’t reach that milestone until Dec. 13, well after the election.
Roughly 7 percent of those polled said they’d vote for some other candidate who didn’t appear in the question, while 13 percent claimed to be “undecided.”
How, when presented with a choice among Swift, Kennedy and Trump, one could remain undecided is completely beyond me. But I’ve seen people do all kinds of crazy things in my life — some people put ketchup on steak, after all — so I’m resigned to the utter incomprehensibilty of human behavior sometimes.
The UMass Lowell / YouGov poll said it had sampled 1,688 likely voters online, with a 2.7 percent margin of error. The polling took place from April 3 through April 8.
Perhaps more usefully, when the pollsters replaced Swift with incumbent President Joe Biden — who seems more likely to be on the ballot in November, given that he’s actually running for the office — the results were a tie at 42 percent each.
Trump was leading Biden comfortably among independents, 37 to 20, with a little less than seven months to go before Election Day, hinting that even more than usual, this election may come down to who comes out to the polls and actually votes.
With all that said, it’s not as if Swift can’t have any impact in November. If roughly a quarter of Americans would actually vote for her — and I’m shaking my head even as I write that — one can only imagine that a significant percentage would vote for someone else she told them to support.
Why? Please don’t ask me that. Lemmings come to mind, but again, I’m supposed to be nice.
So, as I said: Good news and bad news.
Nevertheless, it’s almost enough to give one hope that America’s voters aren’t obsessed solely with pop culture ephemera like Beyoncé’s country album, a pregnant stingray and yet another “Transformers” movie.
Almost.
A Note from Our Deputy Managing Editor:
I heard a chilling comment the other day: “We don’t even know if an election will be held in 2024.”
That wasn’t said by a conspiracy theorist or a doomsday prophet. No, former U.S. national security advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said that to the founder of The Western Journal, Floyd Brown.
Gen. Flynn’s warning means that the 2024 election is the most important election for every single living American. If we lose this one to the wealthy elites who hate us, hate God, and hate what America stands for, we can only assume that 248 years of American history and the values we hold dear to our hearts may soon vanish.
The end game is here, and as Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
All of this means that without you, it’s over. We have the platform, the journalists, and the experience to fight back hard, but Big Tech is strangling us through advertising blacklists, shadow bans, and algorithms. Did you know that we’ve been blacklisted by 90% of advertisers? Without direct support from you, our readers, we can’t continue the fight.
Can we count on your support? It may not seem like much, but a Western Journal Membership can make all the difference in the world because when you support us directly, you cut Big Tech out of the picture. They lose control.
A monthly Western Journal Membership costs less than one coffee and breakfast sandwich each month, and it gets you access to ALL of our content — news, commentary, and premium articles. You’ll experience a radically reduced number of ads, and most importantly you will be vitally supporting the fight for America’s soul in 2024.
We are literally counting on you because without our members, The Western Journal would cease to exist. Will you join us in the fight?
Sincerely,
Josh Manning
Deputy Managing Editor
The Western Journal
George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of “WJ Live,” powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English as well as a Master’s in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
