Republicans say they trust former President Trump for information on the Ukraine-Russia conflict more than they do any other news or government source, according to a new survey released Sunday.
In a CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted April 9-12, 79 percent of Republicans say they trust Trump for information on the Ukraine-Russia conflict – more than double the 33 percent of Republicans who say they trust journalists in the war zone for information.
Following Trump, the Pentagon had 60 percent of the Republican respondents’ trust, followed by conservative media, with 56 percent of Republicans’ trust. The State Department had the least amount of trust on the issue, with only 27 percent of Republican respondents saying they trust the agency on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The poll comes amid concerns about the spread of Russian propaganda in mainstream political discourse. Two top Republican members of the House recently expressed concern about the reach of pro-Russia talking points.
“Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said recently.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) last week agreed with McCaul, saying his remarks were “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,” Turner said.
McCaul, on Sunday, acknowledged that Trump has in the past platformed pro-Russia misinformation online, saying on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that “that’s precisely why the Speaker went down to Mar-a-Lago, [to] talk to him about the Ukraine package,” referring to the meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Trump.
Trump “has tremendous influence over my conference. And that’s why it’s important that we have these discussions with him,” McCaul, who has been pushing for the House to pass Ukraine aid, said in the Sunday interview.
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 poll was conducted with 2,399 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. The margin of error for Republican-only questions was +/- 5.1 percentage points.
Tyler Mitchell