Utahns say they do not believe there was collusion between the Trump administration and Russia during the 2016 election.
A new UtahPolicy.com survey finds 52% of Utahns say they do not think there was more than incidental contact between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives during the election. 34% of Utahns feel that there was collusion between Trump and Russia, while 14% say they don’t know.
While few dispute the fact that Russia did meddle in the 2016 election to influence the outcome, there’s no evidence so far that they coordinated directly with the Trump campaign.
The FBI appointed Robert Mueller to investigate Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election. Some unexpected developments in that investigation are reportedly giving investigators pause.
On Wednesday, The Guardian newspaper reported that investigators are looking into whether there was coordination between pro-Trump websites and the Russians during the election.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that an independent Republican operative in Florida mounted a campaign to possibly obtain emails from Hillary Clinton’s email server from Russian hackers. That agent implied he was working with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was working as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.
Several others close to Trump including Flynn, son-in-law, and adviser Jared Kushner and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have all neglected to disclose meetings with high-ranking Russian officials during the campaign as well.
President Trump clearly isn’t taking any chances with the Russia investigation. He hired Marc Kasowitz as his private attorney to head up his dealings with the probe into Russia’s involvement in the election. Additionally, Kushner has hired prominent criminal defense attorney Abbe Lowell to deal with the Russia probe.
For his part, Trump has labeled the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as “fake news” and a “witch hunt.”
Newsweek has a good timeline of every development of Russian involvement in the 2016 election and how it may connect to the Trump campaign.
Our poll finds that Republicans think the Trump campaign is clean in regards to Russian influence during the election, but Democrats and independent voters in Utah aren’t so sure.
- Just 6% of Utah Republicans say they think Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians during last year’s election.
- Surprising nobody, 87% of Democrats think the Russians and the Trump campaign worked hand-in-hand during the election.
- Half of Utah independent voters say the Trump campaign collaborated with Russia while 36% say they didn’t.
Utahns on the right side of the political spectrum are confident that Trump’s campaign had nothing to do with Russia, while those in the middle and the left say they are more open to the possibility.
- 93% of Utahns who say they are “very conservative” think there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the election.
- 62% of “somewhat conservative” voters say there was no coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
- Moderates are split, with a plurality (46%) saying there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia and 35% saying there was not.
- Utahns on the left are convinced that the Trump administration worked with Russia during the election, with 86% of “somewhat liberal” and 89% of “very liberal” voters thinking there was collusion.
The Dan Jones & Associates survey was conducted May 31-June 5, 2017 among 607 registered Utah voters. It has a margin of error +/- 3.98%.
