If kids had their way, Taylor Swift would be Prime Minister
Ahead of next week’s General Election, the nation’s children have had their say, with new research by The Entertainer finding that Taylor Swift has topped a list of people that kids’ most want to see in charge of the country (18%), on par with your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man (18%) and closely followed by Iron Man (15%).
The research, conducted by British toy retailer The Entertainer, polled 1,000 of the UK’s children and found that musicians and superheroes came out on top as the best candidates for Prime Minister, with a number of British icons, including David Attenborough (13%) and Jude Bellingham (8%) also making the cut.
The top 10 candidates for Prime Minister according to those aged 6-10, are:
- Spider-Man (18%)
- Taylor Swift (18%)
- Iron Man (15%)
- David Attenborough (13%)
- Super Mario (12%)
- Bluey (8%)
- Jude Bellingham (8%)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (8%)
- Harry Kane (8%)
- Barbie (8%)
But what makes for a good Prime Minister? According to the UK’s children, over half agreed that the top qualities of a country’s lead politician should be honesty (52%), closely followed by kindness (44%) and fairness (31%) – with a further half (55%) stating that they should want to help people.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey also found that three-quarters of children (75%) think they’d make a good Prime Minister themselves, with the top things they’d do if they were in charge for the day being to have shorter school days (25%) with extended play time (19%), give free toys to all (22%) and abolish homework (17%).
But beyond all the fun, they’d also like to reduce the prices of items in the shops (29%) and pay doctors & nurses more (22%), with a further 14% of children wanting to stop climate change.
The research comes as almost a third (30%) of parents said their child’s school will be closed to be used as a polling station for Election Day, with almost a quarter (22%) needing to arrange childcare as a result, a third (33%) taking the day off work to look after their children and further quarter (23%) claiming it to be an inconvenience to their daily routine.
With schools up and down the country closed and being used as polling stations, The Entertainer is running an in-store toy vote, prize draw, and activities programme to help keep the kids entertained on the day of the election.
Caroline Smith, Marketing Director at The Entertainer, said: “We are thrilled to see the enthusiasm and imagination of children reflected in our latest research, and it’s heartwarming to see that they prioritise qualities such as kindness, honesty, time to play and a desire to help others. With many schools closed for Election Day, The Entertainer wants to be there for families, offering fun activities to keep children entertained, whilst also giving them a chance to participate in their own unique voting experience.”
Families can head to their local The Entertainer on July 4th and vote for their favourite toys in-person, as well as take part in a number of other free activities throughout the day. What’s more, The Entertainer will be hosting a competition on its website, so parents keep an eye out on The Entertainer’s Instagram account (@entertainer_toys) for a chance to win £100 toy bundles relating to the toy your child votes for.
