In light of the breaking news that Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials (information we had not even given to our allies), I thought it would be instructive to review what the public thinks of Russia compared to what how they think Trump views Russia.
A substantial majority of Americans (63%) view Russia as an enemy of the United States, while only 16% view Russia as a friend. But Americans don't think Donald Trump shares their view. A plurality of 42% says Trump views Russia as a friend, while only 34% thinks he views Russia as an enemy. That's a 29 point gap between how Americans view Russia and how they think Trump views Russia.
This survey was done before it was known that Trump shared classified information with Russia. How will that affect these numbers? I suspect it will further widen the gap between what Americans think and what they say Trump thinks. That would not be good for Trump.
The charts above were made using information in a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between May 6th and 9th of a random national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,287 registered voters), with a 3.1 point margin of error.
