Poll: Most Americans think Russia trying to influence election

Over half of all Americans, including a majority of Republicans, believe Russia is trying to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, according to a new Reuters/IPSOS poll released Friday.

Fifty-five percent of Americans say they think the Kremlin is actively working to influence the race. That includes majorities in both parties — 51 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats.

{mosads}Most Democrats, 62 percent, think Russian President Vladimir Putin backs Donald Trump for the presidency, and 48 percent of Republicans believe their nominee has the foreign leader’s support. Seventy-one percent of those who think Russia is interfering believe the country tried to do so by hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC). 

Earlier this month, the Obama administration publicly blamed Russia for hacking the DNC emails, which were leaked right before the Democratic National Convention in July. But despite the administration pointing fingers, Trump has been reluctant to blame Russia. During one of this fall’s presidential debates, Trump questioned whether it was clear that Russia was behind the hacks, which hit several Democratic groups.

Trump has also faced criticism for his statements praising Putin.

But 57 percent of Americans who think Russia is interfering in the election don’t think Trump had any role in the effort to release information to damage Hillary Clinton.

The survey was conducted online, polling 2,008 Americans from Oct. 18 to 24. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.