Three-Time Trump Voter Adam Calhoun Vows Never to Vote Again as Poll Shows Trump Voters Less Engaged

Adam Calhoun, a country-rap artist, says he has voted three times in his life, each time for Donald Trump. He has now vowed never to vote again. Calhoun made the pledge on Tuesday, 22 September, in a social media video that opens beside a diesel pump.

A day later, the Marist Poll published results from a national survey showing that 37% of Trump's 2024 voters called voting a choice, not a duty. Among Kamala Harris's voters, the figure was 28%. Republicans hold narrow majorities in the House and the Senate, and both chambers are at stake in the midterm elections on Tuesday 3 November.

Calhoun's Record of Backing Trump

Calhoun's album American Native, released on 11 September, closes with 'Death And Taxes', a track on which he raps that he voted for Trump. Eleven days later, Calhoun posted the video. In it, he said his last ballot was for lower fuel and food prices and no new wars, and that he had received nothing in return. He then turned on both main parties: 'The Republicans and Democrats are both the same thing.'

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) checks pump prices every Monday. Its figures for 21 September put the national diesel average at $6.529 a gallon (about £4.94), up $2.780 (about £2.10) on a year earlier. Prices have climbed since the US war with Iran began in late February and disrupted tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The EIA figures alone do not show how much of the rise the war caused.

What the Marist Survey Found About Trump's 2024 Voters

Marist University in New York runs the Marist Poll, which conducted the survey in partnership with NPR and PBS News. Its team reached 1,280 registered voters by phone, text, and online. Among Trump's 2024 voters, a quarter said they were not following the race closely, compared with 19% of Harris's voters. The chart below compares the two groups on four measures of engagement, and Harris's voters score higher on each one.

Campaigns were also less likely to have reached the president's supporters. Just 33% said a campaign, party, or civic group urged them to turn out, compared with 45% of Harris's voters. Across all registered voters, 53% said they would back the Democratic candidate for Congress in their district, and 41% chose the Republican. In May, the pollster recorded a similar 10-point Democratic lead, so the gap has held steady over the summer.

What the Gap Means for Republicans on 3 November

Trump has made the election about himself. At the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on 9 September, he asked the audience to 'pretend that I'm on the ballot.' In the survey, 45% of voters said their choice for Congress was mainly a vote against the president, while independents favoured Democratic candidates 57% to 32%.

Calhoun ended his video by telling followers that ordinary people could not vote their way out of the situation. Those who replied beneath the video, a small sample of his audience, were split. Some praised his change of heart, while others mocked his past support for Trump. One reply said Calhoun was 'finally catching on'.