This is one of three stories about the latest Fox News survey. For Americans' views on politicians compared to Taylor Swift click here, and for voters' satisfaction with the direction of the country click here.
Other than briefly dating his son over a decade ago, what do 12-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr have in common? They are the only two national figures tested in Fox News' latest polling who receive positive ratings among the electorate.
Here are some key takeaways on the popularity ratings of the ubiquitous songstress and a host of political figures from the latest Fox News survey.
-- At 55%, Swift garners the highest favorable rating in the survey, well ahead of the major presidential candidates.
-- Former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced an independent run for president on Monday, and while he narrowly has a net positive rating overall (+3) he enjoys more positive ratings among independents (+9) and Republicans (+21). Democrats view him negatively by 16 points.
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-- Congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as House Speaker last week, has a net negative favorable rating of -28 among all voters, but is +3 among Republicans.
-- As some speculate a late entry into the 2024 GOP primary race, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin sees a +5 rating among Republicans but is largely unknown to them (47%).
More on these findings below.
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In September, Swift encouraged her Instagram followers to register to vote on National Voter Registration Day. Subsequently, the nonpartisan organization Vote.org received 35,000 new registrants, the most since 2020.
The poll, released Thursday, finds Taylor Swift receives a 55% favorability rating and a 35% unfavorable rating for a net positive of 20 points. Kennedy is the only other individual in positive territory at +3 rating. Nikki Haley (-3), Vivek Ramaswamy (-4), Tim Scott (-6), Youngkin (-8), Donald Trump (-14 points), Gavin Newsom (-15), Kamala Harris (-17), Joe Biden (-18), Ron DeSantis (-18), and McCarthy (-28) are all underwater.
Biden does best among Democrats, receiving a net positive rating of 62 points (81% favorable–19% unfavorable), next is Harris (+54) followed by Newsom (+25).
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Former Democrat Kennedy is in rough waters with Democrats as he receives a -16 net rating (37% favorable – 53% unfavorable).
In the Republican camp, Trump is the favorability winner (+60), followed by DeSantis (+39), Ramaswamy (+33), Haley (+31), Scott (+29), and Youngkin (+5). Coming in last is McCarthy (+3).
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Kennedy does well among Republicans, receiving a net positive of +21.
Swift does better among Democrats (+43 net favorable) than among Republicans (-2).
Among independents, Swift (+13) and Kennedy (+9) are the only two in positive territory.
While almost everyone knows the superstar singer and actress, the same cannot be said for some of the political figures and current presidential candidates asked about in the poll, several of whom remain unknown even among their own partisans.
Youngkin is foremost among this group with 51% overall saying they don’t know him and 47% of Republicans saying his name doesn’t ring a bell.
Among GOP primary candidates, Scott (27%), Haley and Ramaswamy (19% each) are the most unfamiliar to Republicans.
Nearly one third of Democrats are unable to rate Newsom.
CLICK HERE FOR TOPLINE AND CROSSTABS
Conducted Oct. 6-9, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,007 registered voters nationwide who were randomly selected from a voter file and spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters.
