A new poll shows former President Trump is considered more trustworthy by Republicans on information about the Ukraine-Russia war than news or government sources.
In the latest CBS News/YouGov poll, more than twice as many Republican voters indicated they trust the presumptive 2024 nominee for information about the ongoing conflict than those who look to reporters and journalists on location. The survey, conducted April 9-12, showed 79 percent of Republicans chose Trump on the question, “Who do you trust for information” on the war while only 33 percent looked to trusted journalists in the war zone.
For information about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Republicans put their trust of Donald Trump higher than the U.S. military/Pentagon, among other sources and media.https://t.co/abQsBtmQax pic.twitter.com/0Gep6G3Sr3
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) April 14, 2024
Even the Pentagon earned less of the Republican respondents’ trust, with 60 percent voting for the agency and only 27 percent indicating they put their trust in the State Department for information on the conflict.
The survey of 2,399 U.S. adults had a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points while there was +/- 5.1 percentage point margin of error for Republican-only questions.
“The poll published on Sunday also revealed a sharp divide among parties on whether the U.S. should send weapons/military aid to Ukraine. About three-quarters of Democrats (74 percent) say the U.S. should, while only 30 percent of Republicans agree. Independents are split exactly down the middle, with 50 percent saying the U.S. should send weapons/military aid and 50 percent saying the U.S. should not,” The Hill reported.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of pro-Russian propaganda making its way into U.S. politics.
“They pump their narratives through the media,” Zelenskyy said in a recent interview according to Politico. “These are not Russian citizens or natives of Russia, no. They are representatives of certain media groups, citizens of the United States. They are the ones in the media with the appropriate messages, sometimes very pro-Russian.”
The view also seems to be that of Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Mike McCaul of Texas who both support aid to Ukraine.
“Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” McCaul, the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair said recently.
Turner concurred, saying that was ” absolutely true.”
“We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor,” the House Intelligence Committee chair said.
On CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” McCaul noted that the former president “has tremendous influence over my conference. And that’s why it’s important that we have these discussions with him.”
