by: Sarah Davis
More Americans are interested in watching Bad Bunny perform in Sunday’s Super Bowl’s halftime show than Turning Point USA’s Kid Rock-headlined alternative concert, according to a new poll.
The YouGov America survey, released Friday, found that 35 percent of respondents prefer the Puerto Rican star’s halftime show, compared to the 28 percent who favor the conservative organizing group’s alternative programming.
Bad Bunny will make history on Sunday as the first solo Latin artist to headline a Super Bowl Halftime Show.
However, the NFL’s selection of the rapper for the game’s starring musical performance drew criticism from conservatives over Bad Bunny’s outspoken advocacy for Puerto Rican and immigrant rights. President Trump called the selection “ridiculous.”
Shortly after the NFL’s halftime show announcement last September, conservative grassroots organizing group Turning Point USA said it would host an alternative performance headlined by conservative artist Kid Rock. The “All American Halftime Show” will air on the conservative movement’s social media pages at 8 p.m. on Sunday, around the same time that Bad Bunny is expected to take the stage.
The Puerto Rican star has refused to tour in the mainland U.S. because of fears of immigration enforcement operations at his concerts and has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown efforts across the country.
At the Grammy Awards last Sunday, the artist joined other celebrities in criticizing the administration’s immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota during his acceptance speech for winning “Album of the Year.”
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say, ICE out,” he said. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
A total of 55 percent of Republican respondents to the YouGov poll said they would prefer Turning Point’s halftime show, while 13 percent of Republicans said they would watch Bad Bunny’s performance. Of Democratic respondents, 63 percent preferred the Latin rapper’s show, while merely 7 percent said they favored the conservative alternative.
More broadly, about a third of those surveyed — 34 percent — said they are very or somewhat satisfied with Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl’s halftime performance. Twenty-six percent said they are very or somewhat dissatisfied.
The YouGov poll collected responses from two surveys conducted on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5-6. The first survey collected responses from 3,023 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of 2 percent. The second survey collected responses from 7,305 adults and its margin of error was approximately 1.5 percent.