This comes after Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson said he was considering running for US President last month
The Rock already has a reputation for being a bit of Jack of all trades, having gone from bodybuilding to wrestling, then acting, some more bodybuilding and even singing (we love us some Moana). Turns out he also fancies have a crack at politics and, by the sounds of it, America wouldn’t mind the idea either.
After a poll was conducted by Piplsay earlier this week, it turns out approximately 58% of 30,138 Americans who took part in the survey would support The Rock if he ran for office. His name was alongside Matthew McConaughey, who is also “seriously considering running for Texas governor in the upcoming 2022 election”.
As for the big part Samoan, part Black Nova Scotian star of the silver screen, he’s been eyeing up the big gig for some time now, it would seem. In a recent interview with USA Today, the 48-year-old confirmed that he “would consider a presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted”.
He went on to reinforce: “Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people […] So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground”. Imagine rocking up to an international summit of some kind and seeing The Rock walk in – you’d agree to anything. You can watch the interview here:
He wouldn’t be the first actors and entertainment figures to make the transition into politics either: fellow strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood; Jerry Springer, George Takei – even Ronald Reagan was an actor before he took up The Oval Office.
Moreover, the poll showed that 63% of US citizens believe that “Hollywood stars can make good politicians with the right attitude and support staff”. Of course, this is only a select sample size and should Johnson run for President in 2024 as he has teased, how the electorate would actually vote is a different matter.
However, as she reassures in his interview, this is no half-serious suggestion; in fact, Johnson has been discussing the prospect of politics as far as back as 2017, when he discussed the notion of running for President on Ellen. In short, when probed by both Kevin Hart and Ellen DeGeneres during the interview, he said: “I am seriously considering it, yes”.
When you consider that his current show, Young Rock, is about looking not only back over his life but ahead to 2032 when the older Rock runs for president, you start to realise that he’s pretty serious about the whole thing.
Other favourable names in the poll included Will Smith, Oprah and Angelina Jolie but us, personally, we really love the idea of The Rock dealing with dodgy politicians via ‘The People’s Elbow’ and the ‘Rock Bottom’. It’s not quite diplomacy but it would certainly leave a message.
