It is undeniable that Russia tried to interfere with our electoral process in 2016, and that this interference was directed by Putin himself. This was nothing less than an attack on our democracy, and some kind of response is necessary to punish Russia for that.
The Senate has done something. By an overwhelming vote, they decided to put new economic sanctions on Russia. That sanctions bill is now in the House of Representatives, but sadly, the Trump administration is working hard to defeat those new sanctions (or at least change the bill to give Trump the authority to remove Russian sanctions whenever he wishes). This is not a surprise, since Trump tried to remove the current sanctions against Russia almost immediately after taking office.
What does the American public think? As the charts above show, a majority of registered voters (62%) agrees with the Senate that new sanctions should be imposed against Russia. But a plurality (43%) think Trump will try to remove the sanctions against Russia, and a majority (51%) think it would be wrong for him to do that.
What's interesting is that a majority (69%) of Republicans want the new sanctions -- and while a small plurality (37%) don't think Trump will try to remove sanctions (which is denying reality, since he's already tried to do that), another small plurality (36%) think it would be wrong for Trump to do that. Trump's desire to remove sanctions against Russia not only goes against what most Americans think should happen, but it also goes against what a substantial portion of Republicans want.
The charts above were made using information in a new Morning Consult / Politico Poll -- done between June 15th and 19th of a random national sample of 2,051 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.
