reason.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
75.2.24.81
Public Scan
URL:
https://reason.com/volokh/2024/02/14/taylor-swift-and-political-ignorance/
Submission: On May 19 via manual from US — Scanned from US
Submission: On May 19 via manual from US — Scanned from US
Form analysis 3 forms found in the DOM
GET https://reason.com/
<form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="https://reason.com/">
<label>
<span class="screen-reader-text">Search for:</span>
<input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search …" value="" name="s">
</label>
<input type="submit" class="search-submit" value="Search">
</form>POST
<form method="post" id="gform_0" class="recaptcha-v3-initialized"><input type="hidden" name="login_redirect" value="/volokh/2024/02/14/taylor-swift-and-political-ignorance/">
<div class="gform_heading">
<h3 class="gform_title">Login Form</h3>
</div>
<div class="gform_body">
<div id="gform_fields_login" class="gform_fields top_label">
<div id="field_0_1" class="gfield gfield--type-text gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_0_1"><label
class="gfield_label gform-field-label" for="input_1">Username<span class="gfield_required"><span class="gfield_required gfield_required_text">(Required)</span></span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_text"><input name="input_1" id="input_1" type="text" value="" class="" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false"> </div>
</div>
<div id="field_0_2" class="gfield gfield--type-password gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_0_2"><label
class="gfield_label gform-field-label gfield_label_before_complex" for="input_2">Password<span class="gfield_required"><span class="gfield_required gfield_required_text">(Required)</span></span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_password">
<span id="input_2_1_container" class="ginput_password ">
<span class="password_input_container">
<input type="password" name="input_2" id="input_2" value="" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false">
<button type="button" class="gform_show_password gform-theme-button gform-theme-button--simple" onclick="javascript:gformToggleShowPassword("input_2");" aria-live="polite" aria-label="Show Password"
data-label-show="Show Password" data-label-hide="Hide Password"><span class="dashicons dashicons-hidden" aria-hidden="true"></span></button>
</span>
</span>
<div class="gf_clear gf_clear_complex"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="field_0_3" class="gfield gfield--type-remember_me field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below hidden_label field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_0_3"><label
class="gfield_label gform-field-label screen-reader-text gfield_label_before_complex"></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_checkbox">
<div class="gfield_checkbox" id="input_3">
<div class="gchoice gchoice_3">
<input class="gfield-choice-input" name="input_3.1" type="checkbox" value="1" id="choice_3">
<label for="choice_3" id="label_3">Remember Me</label>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gform_footer top_label"> <button type="submit" id="gform_submit_button_0" class="gform_button button"
onclick="if(window["gf_submitting_0"]){return false;} if( !jQuery("#gform_0")[0].checkValidity || jQuery("#gform_0")[0].checkValidity()){window["gf_submitting_0"]=true;} "
onkeypress="if( event.keyCode == 13 ){ if(window["gf_submitting_0"]){return false;} if( !jQuery("#gform_0")[0].checkValidity || jQuery("#gform_0")[0].checkValidity()){window["gf_submitting_0"]=true;} jQuery("#gform_0").trigger("submit",[true]); }">Login</button>
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="is_submit_0" value="1">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_submit" value="0">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_unique_id" value="">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="state_0" value="WyJbXSIsIjVmZDk0MDRiMTc0NTYwODJmYTIwNGZlZDYxN2ViYzJjIl0=">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_target_page_number_0" id="gform_target_page_number_0" value="0">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_source_page_number_0" id="gform_source_page_number_0" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="gform_field_values" value="">
</div>
</form>POST /volokh/2024/02/14/taylor-swift-and-political-ignorance/#gf_16
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="gform_ajax_frame_16" id="gform_16" action="/volokh/2024/02/14/taylor-swift-and-political-ignorance/#gf_16" data-formid="16" novalidate="" class="recaptcha-v3-initialized">
<div class="gf_invisible ginput_recaptchav3" data-sitekey="6LeMnkUaAAAAALL8T1-XAyB7vxpOeTExu6KwR48-" data-tabindex="0"><input id="input_85a6e51b5a14131f6ced8d0222ff5f53" class="gfield_recaptcha_response" type="hidden"
name="input_85a6e51b5a14131f6ced8d0222ff5f53" value=""></div>
<div class="gform-body gform_body">
<div id="gform_fields_16" class="gform_fields top_label form_sublabel_below description_below validation_below">
<div id="field_16_2" class="gfield gfield--type-email gfield--width-full gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_16_2">
<label class="gfield_label gform-field-label" for="input_16_2">Email<span class="gfield_required"><span class="gfield_required gfield_required_text">(Required)</span></span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_email">
<input name="input_2" id="input_16_2" type="email" value="" class="large" placeholder="e.g. jane@example.com" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false">
</div>
</div>
<div id="field_16_1" class="gfield gfield--type-hidden gform_hidden field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_16_1">
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_text"><input name="input_1" id="input_16_1" type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" aria-invalid="false" value="11"></div>
</div>
<div id="field_16_3" class="gfield gfield--type-honeypot gform_validation_container field_sublabel_below gfield--has-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible" data-js-reload="field_16_3"><label
class="gfield_label gform-field-label" for="input_16_3">Email</label>
<div class="ginput_container"><input name="input_3" id="input_16_3" type="text" value="" autocomplete="new-password"></div>
<div class="gfield_description" id="gfield_description_16_3">This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gform_footer top_label"> <button type="submit" id="gform_submit_button_16" class="gform_button button"
onclick="if(window["gf_submitting_16"]){return false;} if( !jQuery("#gform_16")[0].checkValidity || jQuery("#gform_16")[0].checkValidity()){window["gf_submitting_16"]=true;} "
onkeypress="if( event.keyCode == 13 ){ if(window["gf_submitting_16"]){return false;} if( !jQuery("#gform_16")[0].checkValidity || jQuery("#gform_16")[0].checkValidity()){window["gf_submitting_16"]=true;} jQuery("#gform_16").trigger("submit",[true]); }">Submit</button>
<input type="hidden" name="gform_ajax" value="form_id=16&title=&description=1&tabindex=0&theme=gravity-theme">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="is_submit_16" value="1">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_submit" value="16">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_unique_id" value="">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="state_16" value="WyJbXSIsIjVmZDk0MDRiMTc0NTYwODJmYTIwNGZlZDYxN2ViYzJjIl0=">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_target_page_number_16" id="gform_target_page_number_16" value="0">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_source_page_number_16" id="gform_source_page_number_16" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="gform_field_values" value="newsletter=11">
</div>
<p style="display: none !important;" class="akismet-fields-container" data-prefix="ak_"><label>Δ<textarea name="ak_hp_textarea" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="100"></textarea></label><input type="hidden" id="ak_js_1" name="ak_js"
value="1716084292908">
<script>
document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value", (new Date()).getTime());
</script>
</p>
</form>Text Content
* Latest * Magazine * Current Issue * Archives * Subscribe * Crossword * Video * Podcasts * All Shows * The Reason Roundtable * The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie * The Soho Forum Debates * Just Asking Questions * The Best of Reason Magazine * Why We Can't Have Nice Things * Volokh * Newsletters * Donate * Donate Online * Donate Crypto * Ways To Give To Reason Foundation * Torchbearer Society * Planned Giving * Subscribe * Reason Plus Subscription * Print Subscription Search for: LOGIN FORM Username(Required) Password(Required) Remember Me Login Create new account Forgot password THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent About The Volokh Conspiracy * Editorial Independence * Who we are * Books * Volokh Daily Email * Archives * DMCA * RSS Political Ignorance TAYLOR SWIFT AND POLITICAL IGNORANCE A RECENT POLL FINDING THAT 18 PERCENT OF ALL AMERICANS AND 32 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS BELIEVE TAYLOR SWIFT IS PART OF A COVERT CONSPIRACY EFFORT TO HELP BIDEN WIN REELECTION. THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF THE BROADER PROBLEM OF POLITICAL IGNORANCE AND BIAS. Ilya Somin | 2.14.2024 5:00 PM Taylor Swift. (Amy McKeon/ZUMA Press/Newscom) A recent Monmouth poll finds that 18% of Americans and 32% of Republicans believe there is a "a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election." The percentage of believers is higher among the 46% of Americans who have previously heard of the Swift conspiracy theory, and is especially high among Republicans who had previously heard of it (44% of that subgroup said they believed such a covert effort exists). As more Republicans learn of this conspiracy theory, more might come to believe it. Over the last few weeks, some conservative activists and online "influencers" have promoted the absurd conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift's relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce is actually a "deep state" government "psyop" designed to help Biden win the election (presumably, Swift -grateful for being set up with Kelce and resulting publicity, will endorse Biden in exchange). Large numbers of Republicans (though still a minority) now apparently believe it! In fairness, some of those who told Monmouth they believed in the existence of the "covert government effort" might have had some other type of conspiracy in mind. But the one involving Kelce has gotten the broadest circulation. Powered By 00:00/07:25 10 Sec Applied Materials Forecast Fails to Impress After Rally Next Stay I won't spend much time and effort refuting the Swift-Kelce conspiracy theory. Suffice to say that Swift is a billionaire and the most popular celebrity in the world. She doesn't need the help of Deep State Democrats to either find men to date or generate publicity for her music. And if the White House wanted Swift to endorse Biden, they could probably achieve that goal just by asking her. After all, she did endorse him in 2020, apparently without getting anything in exchange (though I suppose conspiracy theorists can argue that whoever she was dating back then was actually a Deep State plant). In and of itself, widespread belief in the Taylor Swift conspiracy theory probably doesn't matter much. It almost certainly won't change the outcome of the presidential election. Nor is it likely to impact government policy in any meaningful way. The problem is that the kind of credulousness on display here is also evident in many voters' beliefs in a wide range of other conspiracy theories. The Washington Post gives some examples in its story on the Monmouth poll: * > An August 2022 YouGov poll after the search of Mar-a-Lago showed 38 percent > of Republicans believed the FBI planted evidence there. Just 23 percent > disagreed with that proposition (another 39 percent were "not sure"). * > A YouGov poll the next month showed a majority of Republicans said it was > at least "probably true" that the FBI planted classified documents. * > A Suffolk University poll shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, showed 58 percent of > Donald Trump supporters said the Capitol riot was "mostly an > Antifa-inspired attack that involved only a few Trump supporters." There > remains zero evidence for this. * > A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed 34 percent said > it was at least "probably true" that the FBI organized and encouraged the > attack on the Capitol. (About half that number believed there was "solid > evidence" of this.) * > YouGov polling in December showed 42 percent of Republicans believe "many > top Democrats" are caught up in child sex-trafficking rings, 35 percent > believe mass shootings have been faked to promote gun control, and 28 > percent believe the government used covid vaccines to implant microchips in > people. * > The same poll showed fully 60 percent of Republicans believe there is "a > single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world > together." (Democratic support for the proposition was about half — 28 > percent.) * > And, of course, polls generally show around 6 in 10 or more Republicans > continue to believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, despite the > complete lack of evidence more than three years later. These are all examples of right-wing voters' credulousness—none more consequential than continued widespread belief in Donald Trump's "Big Lie" about the 2020 election. But there are plenty of left-wing examples of widespread ignorance and belief in misinformation, as well. Notable cases include 9/11 "trutherism" (disproportionately embraced by people on the left) and belief that "the Jews" were at least partly responsible for the 2008 financial crisis (much more common among Democrats than Republicans). Overall, it appears left-wingers and right-wingers are about equally susceptible to conspiracy-mongering. Both tend to be more open to conspiracy theories that reinforce their preexisting views than those that cut against them. As I've explained before (e.g. here, here, and here), this is part of the more general problem of voter "rational ignorance" and bias. Because there is so little chance that any one vote will influence an electoral outcome, most voters have little incentive to devote more than minimal time to learning about political issues. Their ignorance makes them more susceptible to conspiracy theories and other misinformation. That problem is further exacerbated by the lack of incentive to objectively evaluate whatever information the voters do learn. In considering political information, many voters act not as objective truth-seekers, but as "political fans" who tend to overvalue any claims that cohere with their preexisting views, and downplay or ignore any that cut against them. Just as sports fans tend to be biased in favor of their favorite team, political fans are biased in favor of their preferred party, ideology, and leaders—and against their rivals. At this moment in history, I think right-wing political ignorance and bias are greater menaces than that on the other side of the political spectrum. Over the last few years, lies and disinformation spread by Trump and his supporters—particularly the Big Lie—have had more impact than their left-wing counterparts. But, whether or not you agree with me on that, it's important to recognize the enormous scope of the problem—and the fact that it isn't limited to one side of the political spectrum. Recognizing the problem cannot, by itself, solve it. But it's at least a step in the right direction. I consider a variety of potential ways to mitigate political ignorance and bias in this recent article and in my book Democracy and Political Ignorance. UPDATE: I have made minor additions to this post. UPDATE 2: I have fixed what was previously an incorrect link to the Monmouth poll. To get the Volokh Conspiracy Daily e-mail, please sign up here. Email(Required) Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Submit Δ NEXT: 14th Court Case I've Seen in Which AI-Hallucinated Citations Appeared Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University, and author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom and Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. Political IgnoranceBiasDemocracyElectionsElection 2024Conspiracy Theories Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Media Contact & Reprint Requests Show Comments (128) LATEST TIKTOK'S GOT TROUBLE Thomas W. Hazlett | 5.18.2024 7:00 AM THE REAL REASON FOR SELF-CHECKOUT BANS C. Jarrett Dieterle | 5.18.2024 6:00 AM KAMALA HARRIS IMPLAUSIBLY CLAIMS BIDEN'S MARIJUANA PARDONS NUMBER IN THE 'TENS OF THOUSANDS' Jacob Sullum | 5.17.2024 5:20 PM DANIEL PERRY'S PARDON MAKES A MOCKERY OF SELF-DEFENSE Billy Binion | 5.17.2024 4:59 PM ARE POOR SCHOOLS UNDERFUNDED? IT'S MORE COMPLEX THAN YOU'D THINK. Emma Camp | 5.17.2024 12:47 PM RECOMMENDED JANUARY 6 AND THE PROBLEM OF POLITICAL IGNORANCE PERILS OF TRUMP'S CONSPIRACY-MONGERING ABOUT THE ELECTION ARE RIGHT-WINGERS MORE PRONE TO BELIEVE CONSPIRACY THEORIES THAN LEFT-WINGERS? POLITICAL IGNORANCE, PARTISAN BIAS, AND BELIEF IN CONSPIRACY THEORIES A FLAWED ATTACK ON "LIBERTARIAN ELITISM" ABOUT VOTER IGNORANCE * About * Browse Topics * Events * Staff * Jobs * Donate * Advertise * Subscribe * Contact * Media * Shop * Amazon Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS © 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Notifications