Would You Play a Presidential Inauguration? Fan Poll Results Are Surprising

Put yourself in Carrie Underwood‘s shoes: You’ve just been asked to play a presidential inauguration. Are you in?

On one hand, it’s a great honor to be asked, but on the other hand, it comes with a ton of criticism and social media hate.

Underwood has learned all about it this week. Garth Brooks got his chance four years ago.

Four years before that? The music community was pretty alligator arms-y for President Trump’s 2017 inauguration, but one man stepped up. Toby Keith played (and was criticized), but in general, Toby did whatever Toby wanted to do, so it rolled off of him like water off a duck.

• Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and Rascal Flatts are three more country stars who’ve signed on to play inauguration events this year.
• Underwood will sing “America the Beautiful” during the actual ceremony on Jan. 20.
• On Friday, Trump announced that the ceremony would be moved indoors due to the cold.

Related: Fact Check: Did Carrie Underwood Really Lose Millions of Spotify Followers? 

On YouTube, we asked country fans this question: If you were a country star, would you play a presidential inauguration?

Over 50 percent of respondents chose “C.”

More accurately, only 28 percent (about 1 in 4) said absolutely, no matter what.

Ten percent (1 in 10) said the hassle wasn’t worth it under any circumstances.

Fifty eight percent said, “It depends.” See the full results below.

“Just goes to show that all of the attitude in music is fake,” one person commented. “People pretend like they are tough only to find out they are too afraid of what other people will think of them. Makes me laugh every time.”

That interpretation isn’t universally shared — one could argue that the artist would only play for a candidate they support.

That means only one thing: Performers may talk about unity and answering the call for the country, but in 2025 the performance is political, at least in the minds of 58 percent of Taste of Country YouTube subscribers.