Utahns don’t believe President Donald Trump’s claims that he was “wiretapped” by the Obama administration during the 2016 presidential campaign.
A new UtahPolicy.com survey shows 56% of Utahns doubt Trump’s claims, while 27% believe him. 17% are undecided.
Trump made a claim in a series of tweets in early March, alleging Obama “had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory.” So far, no evidence to corroborate Trump’s claim has surfaced.
The only demographic groups in our survey who believed Trump’s claims were those who described themselves as “very conservative” and Tea Party members. More on that in a moment.
Even Republicans aren’t sure about Trump’s wiretapping claims.
- 40% of Utah GOP voters believe Trump, while 38% don’t.
- 97% of Utah Democrats think Trump is lying about the wiretap allegations.
- 70% of independents also say Trump is not truthful about wiretapping, while just 17% believe him.
Ideologically, only those on the far-right think Trump is telling the truth about the Obama administration surveilling him during the campaign. The further you move to the center and left, the fewer Utahns think Trump is telling the truth.
- 51% of very conservative Utahns say they think Trump is truthful.
- Only 33% of “somewhat conservative” voters believe Trump.
- 66% of moderates say Trump is lying.
- 93% of “somewhat liberal” Utahns and 91% of “very liberal” voters say Trump is telling fictions.
Tea Partiers in Utah believe Trump’s claims by a 66-15% margin, while those who are not Tea Party followers are skeptical of Trump by a 60-23% tally.
The reason for that may be that voters tend to seek out information that matches their political ideology. Right-wing news sources have been more apt to back up Trump’s claims than other mainstream sources like the New York Times and Washington Post.
The survey was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates from March 22-29, 2017. 844 registered Utah voters were interviewed via landline and cell phone with a margin of error +/- 3.37%.