WashPost Analysis: Republicans Harbor Favorable Views Toward Russia

As President Trump's view on Russia goes, so goes the country's Republican citizenry, according to analysis done for The Washington Post.

Dina Smeltz, a senior fellow in public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, found that ordinary Americans who identify as Republican now have more favorable views about Russia than do Democrats, reversing in a big way a decades-old trend, she wrote for the Post.

Though Congressional Republicans are wary and nervous of Trump's softened stance toward Russia, everyday Republicans are not, according to the Post's analysis.

The analysis:

• A majority of Republicans do not believe Russia interfered with the election.
• Only 15 percent of Republicans think Trump is too friendly with Russia.
• 75 percent of Republicans think Trump has the right attitude toward Russia.

"Perhaps Republicans have a lack of confidence in the in the intelligence agencies' conclusions," Smeltz wrote for the Post.

"Or perhaps ordinary Republicans are taking political cues from Trump rather than from traditional Republican hawks such as [Marco] Rubio and John McCain. Or perhaps Republicans think that whatever hurts the Democrats has to be good for Republicans, even cyber-interference," Smeltz concluded.

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