Some Republicans approve of Russia's help in elections
American intelligence officials say Russia is still trying to interfere with U.S. elections, as the November midterms approach. And Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has said he prefers Donald Trump in the White House.
That’s okay with some Republicans, according to a Yahoo Finance/SurveyMonkey poll of 2,509 Americans conducted July 25-27. In the survey, 11% of people who identify as Republican or lean Republican say it’s “appropriate” for Russia to help Republicans keep control of Congress in the upcoming elections. Another 29% say it’s “not appropriate, but wouldn’t be a big deal” for the Russians to help. So combined, 40% of Republicans either approve of Russian interference, or don’t strongly object to it.
It’s illegal for foreign nationals to contribute money or offer any “thing of value” in connection with a U.S. election, at any level of government. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence (appointed by President Trump), has said consistently that Russia interfered in the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House. He has also said Russian efforts to disrupt U.S. elections are “ongoing.” Virtually nobody in the intelligence community disputes this.
It’s far less clear whether those Russian efforts, which involved aggressive social-media campaigning and other measures the FBI is still investigating, swung the election to Trump in 2016. But the mere prospect seems to unnerve Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the idea that Russian operatives played any meaningful role in his election. And Trump routinely mocks the inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller, whose mission is to determine what Russia did, and who may have collaborated.
There’s intriguing evidence Russians are still up to their old tricks, and may be testing out some new ones. Facebook has reportedly told members of Congress it recently discovered and disabled at least 30 accounts that may have been operated by Russians posing as American political activists. That’s one tactic the Russians used in 2016, when they tried to instigate conflict among people interested in touchy political issues, such as gun rights and social justice.
In mid-July, the FBI arrested an alleged Russian operative, Maria Butina, who for several years worked to connect Russian officials with influential people in the American conservative movement, including the National Rifle Association. The FBI may be investigating whether Russian money made its way into political activities funded by the NRA, which would be illegal. The NRA spent heavily on Trump in 2016. In response to public questions on the matter from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the NRA said the questions were “overbroad” and couldn’t’ be answered. “The NRA’s responses to Wyden have been surprisingly cagey,” says Brendan Fischer of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, a campaign finance watchdog. “It would have been fairly easy to deny any foreign funding, but their responses were very carefully worded.”