Should celebrities and athletes shut up about politics? It’s complicated.

Americans are fed up with politics invading every aspect of their lives. But many can’t kick the habit.

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’s 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.

Unless they agree with them.

The same people who want politics out of everyday life are still influenced when the celebrities’ or athletes’ opinions align with their own. Nearly 70 percent of voters who backed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 would think “more positively” about a movie star if they spoke out against President Donald Trump. The inverse is also true: For nearly 60 percent of the president’s voters, their perception of a star would improve if they expressed support for him.

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.

That presents a complicated and often contradictory picture of how voters engage in politics as it bleeds into their daily lives — and the precarious line celebrities and local leaders need to walk as culture and politics become hard to detangle.

Celebrities and athletes have increasingly spoken out about causes like ICE crackdowns and racial equity on the world stage. Key culture podcasts — from the Joe Rogan Experience to Call Her Daddy — have hosted politicians including Trump and Harris. And actors like George Clooney were critical in calling for former President Joe Biden to end his 2024 campaign.

“Everyone should always speak up for what they believe in,” said Jordan C. Brown, a Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist who has worked with campaigns and celebrities alike. “But there is a cost, and I think I would just caution people of the cost.”

The result is an American public that doesn’t quite know what it wants, one that’s tired of their lives being politicized — but are also influenced by partisan statements.

Voters still care about where celebrities and institutions stand

Majorities of both Harris and Trump voters say politics has invaded spaces where it doesn’t belong, but Trump voters are more concerned than Harris voters are.

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 — like sports, movies and on television, and music — pluralities of Harris voters say there’s an acceptable amount of politics present.

But few Americans say they want more.

Some Americans also claim bringing politics into other realms doesn’t affect them. A plurality of Harris voters — 38 percent — say it doesn’t matter to them if athletes, for example, talk about politics.

And yet, the poll finds, Republicans and Democrats alike actually are swayed by statements from businesses and celebrities.

Strong majorities report that celebrities’, athletes’ or even their local grocery store owners’ 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.

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.

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 “We need to crack down on the crime running rampant in our cities.” On the other side, over 60 percent of Harris voters say they would think more positively about athletes who make statements like “We need to tax the richest people in this country.” That’s true even for voters on both sides who said there is “too much” politics in sports.

It’s a familiar phenomenon, according to Shaun Harper, a University of Southern California professor who has researched athletes’ political activism. He described the “‘I don’t want politics in my sports unless they’re my politics’” mindset as “anti-democratic.”

“It is unfair to athletes and to our democracy to expect them to only selectively leverage their platforms and their free speech rights,” he said.

The most politically engaged voters are the ones who care most

The strongest partisans are even more curious about what local, religious and cultural leaders have to say compared with those in the center.

More than one-third of Trump voters who self-identify as “MAGA Republicans”, the president’s most loyal base, say religious institutions should make their views clear to their followers, compared to 22 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters.

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 — compared with 27 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters and roughly 30 percent across all adults.

On the other side of the aisle, about one-third of self-identified “strong” Democrats say athletes should make their political views clear, double the 16 percent of those who say they are “not strong” Democrats who agree.

And 36 percent of “strong” Democrats believe schools and universities should make their political views clear to their students, compared to 22 percent of “not strong” Democrats.

Those who voted third party, or who didn’t 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’ve changed their opinion about a political topic because a celebrity spoke about it.

Celebrities are already less willing to engage with partisan politics

The results shed light on an ongoing debate as stars and campaign strategists try to figure out how — or even if — to engage celebrities with politics.

Finding a way to do so that doesn’t damage their own careers, given the complexity of voters’ and fans’ partisan divides, can be difficult, the poll shows. When some voters claim to want neutrality but secretly want their favorite stars’ politics to match their own, but others demand political engagement, it leaves celebrities to decide which group they can upset the least.

Democrats have used celebrity endorsements and surrogates in significant measure since former President Barack Obama’s star-studded 2008 presidential campaign. Harris, two years ago, saw an outpouring of support for her presidential campaign from a host of VIPs: Beyoncé 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.

But that backfired for the celebrities when Harris lost, said Todd Hawkins, a Democratic strategist and consultant based in Los Angeles.

“What 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,” he said.

Trepidation about the partisan divide is driving many celebrities’ reluctance to get involved in politics in a high-profile way — a dynamic captured by actor Jennifer Lawrence in a 2025 interview with the New York Times, when she was asked about her willingness to speak out against Trump.

“I don’t really know if I should,” she said. “But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart.”

Last year, actor and entrepreneur Selena Gomez posted — and later deleted — a tearful video responding to immigration crackdowns that drew criticism from the right. And Hunter Hess, an Olympic freestyle skier, drew heat from Trump for saying that representing the U.S. in the Games “brings up mixed emotions” after Alex Pretti and Renée Good were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.   

“They’re very concerned, they’re scared as hell, but they were scared last year more than anything,” Hawkins said of celebrities. “I still see trepidation on how and what they will do to be engaged.”

The connection between politics and pop culture, however, will hardly dissolve anytime soon, said Brown, the LA-based Democratic strategist: “There’s that phrase: the only thing Hollywood and D.C. love more than themselves are each other.”

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