A new poll reveals that President Donald Trump's supporters are in deep denial about the ongoing Russia scandal.
The survey by Public Policy Polling found that, even though Donald Trump Jr. has admitted to meeting with Russia to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, only 45 percent of Trump voters believe that that meeting actually occurred, with 32 percent claiming that it never happened and 24 percent saying they aren't sure.
Similarly, the poll found that 72 percent of Trump voters are dismissing the stories about the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia, with only 14 percent disagreeing with the prospect that the stories are "fake news." Even if it was discovered that the Trump campaign did collude with Russia, only 16 percent of his supporters believe he should resign, while 77 percent believe he should still stay in office.
Despite Donald Trump Jr.'s own emails including an admission by a Kremlin-connected lawyer about how "Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump," only 26 percent of Trump voters will admit that Russia was pulling for Trump to win the election, while 44 percent support the baseless belief that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win and 31 percent saying they're not sure.
In light of these findings, it's not surprising that only 13 percent of Trump supporters believe that Trump's campaign worked with the Russian government to win the 2016 election, while only 24 percent want an investigation into the matter.
While Trump voters may prefer their president over fact-based reports from the media, the public is generally supporting the press. By 56 percent to 38 percent margins, voters trust NBC and ABC more than the president. CBS and The New York Times do similarly well, by 56-to-39 and 55-to-38 margins respectively. Even the network that Trump loves to denounce as "fake news," CNN, is supported by the American people by 54 percent to 39 percent, while The Washington Post is at 53 percent to 38 percent.
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