Since the CIA revealed that Russia and Vladimir Putin hacked into our election with the sole purpose of electing Donald Trump, Republicans have found a new love and respect for Russia’s leader.
Putin, who has been accused by the CIA of personally interfering in the US election to help Donald Trump win because he holds a ‘vendetta’ against Hillary Clinton, has seen his popularity rate increase by a staggering 56 percentage points, according to Economist/YouGov poll.
The Russian leader’s net favorability rating jumped from -66 in July 2014 to -10 in the latest survey.
Thirty-two per cent of people who identified as a Republican had a ‘somewhat favorable’ view of Putin, while five per cent said they had a ‘very favorable’ view.
Remarkably, that combined figure means almost three times as many Republicans have a favorable view of Putin as they do of President Barack Obama – who was seen that way by just 17 per cent of all GOP responders.
In contrast, just 12 per cent of Democrats said they had a somewhat of very favorable view of the Russian leader. Across all political divides, 21 per cent of Americans who responded to the survey said they view him favorable.
