Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s name has been coming up as a possible presidential candidate for years now, but the actor just now confirmed that he had been approached about a possible White House bid by multiple political parties. Johnson admitted that the interest in him taking on a political career was surprising as he opened up to Trevor Noah during the first episode of the former Daily Show host’s new podcast, What Now? with Trevor Noah.
Asked about the widely-reported 2021 poll that determined 46% of U.S. adults would support Johnson as a presidential candidate, the Jumanji actor admitted he was “blown away” at the public’s enthusiasm. It was then that he revealed he had been approached by multiple political parties that tried to convince him to take the idea seriously. In late 2022, “I got a visit from the parties,” Johnson said. “They asked me if I was going to run and if I could run – and it was a big deal. And it came out of the blue, and it was one after the other.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
The Black Adam star didn’t reveal which political parties had approached him but said that each brought up the 2021 poll Noah had mentioned. “They also brought up their own deep-dive research and data that would prove, should I ever decide to go down that road, that I would be a real contender,” he revealed, maintaining that it was “all very surreal” as his goal has never been to be in politics. Johnson added, “And in fact, there’s a lot about politics that I hate.”
It was when Johnson began to think about his three daughters, ages 22, 7, and 5, that he began to think about the realities of what running for office would be. “I know what it’s like to have that separation and not be there for the birthdays, not be there for the pickups, the drop-offs and everything else,” he told Noah, revealing that he had already missed big moments with his oldest daughter at the height of his wrestling career. “I didn’t want that. I don’t want that for my little ones now.”
Johnson clarified that he has no intention of running for president now, but didn’t shut down the possibility for a future run. “If that’s ultimately what the people would want, then of course I would consider it,” he told Noah. Johnson has never identified with a specific political party but described himself as a “political independent & centrist” in 2020 before endorsing the Biden-Harris Democratic ticket.
