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Survey finds more Americans believe Bad Bunny “better represents” US than Donald Trump
Music•February 18, 2026 at 9:45 AMNational

Survey finds more Americans believe Bad Bunny “better represents” US than Donald Trump

By Liberty Dunworth•NME Music News

The majority also approved of the singer performing exclusively in Spanish, and ending the set by listing all the countries in North, South and Central America The post Survey finds more Americans believe Bad Bunny “better represents” US than Donald Trump appeared first on NME.

A recent poll has found that more Americans believe that Bad Bunny “better represents” the country than president Donald Trump.

The survey was conducted by Yahoo! and YouGov shortly after the Puerto Rican superstar headlined the coveted Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday February 8, and asked 1,700 adults to share their thoughts on the performance.

As highlighted by Variety, there were slightly more participants that identified as Republican in the poll than those who identified themselves as Democrats.

When asked who better represents the US, Bad Bunny or president Trump – who made multiple swipes at the halftime show headliner – 42 per cent of participants voted in favour of the singer, while 39 per cent chose Trump, and 20 per cent said they were unsure.

When broken down by race, the approval rating was 61 per cent among Black people compared to just nine per cent who said Trump, and 46 per cent among Hispanics compared to 32 per cent for Trump.

The only category where Trump got a higher rate than Bad Bunny was among white people, where 48 per cent said the president “better represents” the US, compared to 37 per cent who opted for the singer.

Asking directly about the halftime show, 47 per cent said that they watched the performance – which celebrated Latin music and saw guest appearances from Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Jessica Alba, Karol G, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and more.

Of those who saw it, 30 per cent said they enjoyed it compared to just eight per cent who said they disliked it. Similarly, when asked how they felt about the singer performing exclusively in Spanish, 31 per cent were fine with it, and just 11 per cent disapproved.

Finally, when questioned about their feelings regarding the way in which Bad Bunny ended his halftime show – saying “God bless America” while naming all the countries in North, South and Central America, backed by a billboard that read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love” – 60 per cent approved, 24 per cent said they were unsure, and just 16 per cent were unhappy about it.

Ahead of the Super Bowl slot, there was controversy over the decision to enlist Bad Bunny for the halftime show, with the singer coming under personal attack from the MAGA movement, and from Donald Trump, who called the decision “crazy” and claimed that he had “never heard” of him.

Later, Turning Point USA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk, confirmed that it would be holding an ‘All American Halftime Show’ at the same time with Kid Rock headlining, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that the “president would much prefer a Kid Rock performance over Bad Bunny”.

After the performance, Trump was spotted watching the official halftime show instead of the Kid Rock alternative, and the president then hit out at Bad Bunny again, writing on Truth Social that the halftime show felt like a “slap in the face” for America.

The show has since been ranked as the fourth biggest in Super Bowl history with the musician pulling in 128.2million viewers.

Among those sharing huge praise for Bad Bunny after the show were Rosalía, Doechii, Jennifer Lopez, and more, as well as Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves who also made swipes at the Turning Point gig.

A number of Republican congressmen called for an investigation into the set, but it was soon confirmed that Bad Bunny did not violate any broadcast decency standards.

The set has also sparked a wave of travel searches to Puerto Rico, with Expedia revealing that flight searches for the nation increased by a staggering 245 per cent in the days after the halftime performance.

The post Survey finds more Americans believe Bad Bunny “better represents” US than Donald Trump appeared first on NME.

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