Joe Rogan has explained why he moved from supporting Bernie Sanders in 2020 to endorsing Donald Trump in 2024, pointing to immigration, COVID-era policies and dissatisfaction with the Democratic presidential nomination process.
In Rogan's opinion, the dominance of two political parties in the U.S. isn't ideal, and he described his break with Democrats as the result of several issues, rather than a single event.
What To Know
On Wednesday's episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan was asked about his political evolution by actor Michael Douglas.
Underlying the conversation was a broader frustration with America’s political system. The former Fear Factor host, 59, argued that having two dominant parties leaves voters with too little choice, describing the arrangement as not healthy.
"We have a problem," Rogan said.
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Immigration Became a Breaking Point
Immigration was among Rogan’s sharpest criticisms.
"First of all, the open border was insane," Rogan said of the Biden administration, arguing that its handling of migration was a major factor in his political break with Democrats.
His views have been criticized as oversimplifications of a more complicated record, particularly his characterization of the border as "open."
Border encounters rose substantially during Biden’s presidency, but millions of encounters did not mean that the same number of people entered and remained in the country. Government data examined by FactCheck.org showed that, as of early 2024, approximately 2.5 million people encountered at the southern border had been released into the United States while about 2.8 million had been removed or expelled. Encounter figures can also include repeat attempts by the same person.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection defines its encounter statistics as encompassing several categories, including Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry and people found inadmissible at official ports.
Rogan Criticized the Democratic Nomination Process
Rogan also argued that Democratic voters had not been given a meaningful choice of presidential candidates in recent elections, describing the process as another reason for his disillusionment, though there is important context to that claim.
Biden faced challengers during the 2024 Democratic primaries and became the presumptive nominee after securing a majority of delegates. He withdrew from the presidential race on July 21, 2024.
Per democrats.org, Kamala Harris did not subsequently compete in a new nationwide primary election. Instead, after Biden withdrew, his delegates became unbound and Harris secured the Democratic nomination through a virtual roll call of convention delegates, receiving 99 percent of participating delegates' votes.
Questions Over Biden and COVID Policies
Rogan questioned Biden’s mental fitness while he was president and suggested that uncertainty over who was making decisions contributed to his loss of confidence in the Democratic leadership.
COVID-era vaccine requirements were another grievance. Rogan criticized what he called "the whole COVID vaccine mandatory thing," describing those policies as part of a broader pattern that alienated him.
The Biden administration did pursue several vaccination requirements, although their scope differed. In January 2022, the Supreme Court blocked the administration's vaccine-or-test requirement for employees at large private businesses while allowing a vaccination requirement for workers at health facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to take effect.
Rogan Has Also Broken With Trump
During the same conversation with Douglas, Rogan criticized Trump over his handling of Iran and aspects of immigration enforcement, arguing that promises he associated with Trump's 2024 campaign had not all materialized.
"What Trump stood for, some of it turned out to not be real," Rogan said, pointing to the President's pledge of no wars as an example.
That distinction also surfaced on The View. In an October 16 segment, the program discussed Rogan's trajectory from a Sanders supporter to a Trump backer, and host Sunny Hostin called out the comedian over his facts.
"Joe Rogan has 74.2 million followers across several platforms, and The Joe Rogan Experience was the number one podcast in the United States—he signed a $250 million deal for that podcast—I'm not sure why he can't afford a fact-checker," the lawyer said.
Regarding Rogan's comment on borders, for example, Hostin cited Biden's conversation with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in March 2021, where the former President told migrants: "Don't come over." She also said, "The administration was still turning away most single adults and many families under Title 42."
Newsweek reached out to Rogan's representative via email for comment on Sunday.
Rogan’s Shift Comes As More Americans Reject Party Labels
Rogan’s frustration with the two-party system comes as a growing share of Americans identify with neither major party. Gallup found that 39 percent of U.S. adults identified as independents in 2020, rising to 42 percent in 2021, 43 percent in both 2023 and 2024, and a record 45 percent in 2025.
Younger Americans are particularly likely to reject traditional party labels. In Gallup's 2025 data, 56 percent of Generation Z adults identified as independents, while majorities of both Gen Z and millennials described themselves that way. More than four in 10 Generation X adults did so, compared with one-third or less of baby boomers and the Silent Generation.
Independent identification does not necessarily mean voters are politically neutral. In 2024, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents narrowly outnumbered Democrats and Democratic leaners, 46 percent to 45 percent. That reversed in 2025, when Democrats and Democratic leaners stood at 47 percent compared with 42 percent for Republicans and Republican leaners.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Trevor Davies