We study the effects of present‐day glacial discharges and the growth of the Antarctic ice sheet on exciting the Earth' rotational axis. Glacial forcing could cause a maximum change in J2of about one‐third of the observed amount, for the Maxwell rheology and for Burgers’ body models with a long‐term, lower‐mantle viscosity greater than about 1023P. For transient rheologies the amount of excitation due to glacial melting decreases. Polar wander is not much excited by recent glacial melting for the various types of rheologies