Sunday, June 25, 2017

Voters are getting sick of the Russia vote interference investigation.


A new poll indicates that voters are getting sick of the Russian voter interference investigation. The Hill. The Harvard-Harris poll finds that almost 2/3rds of voters, 64%, think that the investigations are hurting the country while 56% think that Congress should move onto other pressing issues. Though 58% of voters are worried about accusations of obstruction of justice or possible dealings between Donald Trump and Russia, many more want Congress to cover other issues. A whopping 73% say that the investigation has been a distraction, including 74% of independent voters and even 68% of Democrats. 62% of voters also believed that there is no evidence to support conclusion and the same number believe that Donald Trump will not be impeached because of the investigation. 

My Comment:
A fairly damning poll for those pursuing  the Russian voter interference conspiracy theory. It's fairly clear that people are sick and tired of hearing about Russia. This poll looks fairly well made, though without direct access to the numbers you can never really tell. Like most polls it oversampled Democrats, but it had a large number of respondents and was done online. I don't really trust polls anymore but I am guessing that this one is probably pretty reflective of the larger mood of the country. 

I know, for one, that I am sick and tired about hearing about this stupid conspiracy theory. There has been zero evidence released of any wrong doing by President Trump or his current administration. Nothing he has done has been illegal and there is no obstruction of justice. To date there has been zero evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians and zero evidence that any votes were changed by the Russians. 

The whole thing is a gigantic waste of time and money that will accomplish nothing in the end. At least in terms of hurting the Trump administration. The only crimes that I know have been committed are the various leaks to the media of potentially classified information. Whether or not those leaks get punished are still up in the air, but that's the only real possible outcome of this stupid investigation. 

And it's not like there isn't other things going on right now for the government and media to be covering. Islamic terrorism is still a menace, the healthcare law isn't done yet, work hasn't begun on the border wall, I could go on and on. And at least some of the things going on right now could have bipartisan solutions if only congress would do something other than this stupid investigation. But instead, nothing is getting done. 

Indeed, I think that is largely the point. The Democrats intended to use the investigation as a giant distraction, not only from the fact that their candidate lost and lost hard, but the fact that their party is in serious trouble. Right now the Republicans control Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, many many state Governor's offices and legislators and, if the special elections trend continues, grim prospects of reversing any of those situations.

Even worse, the Democratic Party seems to have some very obvious and open wounds. The way Hillary Clinton coordinated with the DNC and the news media to destroy Bernie Sanders chances of getting elected ripped open a massive rift between the progressive/economic wing of the party and the SJW/Neocon wing. Those wounds won't heal anytime soon and the Democrats are desperate to make people forget about it.
Right now it seems like the only plan for the Democrats at all is to try and diminish the credibility of President Trump and use him as a rallying cry to fire up their base. It really doesn't seem to be working at all though. Trump's poll numbers are garbage, but they are still using the same biased samples that they used during the election. Trump's real numbers are closer to 50%, going up or down daily depending on what's in the news. 

I do think that the investigation is having an effect, but it's probably not the one that the Democrats want. The investigation does seem to be firing up their base, which seems to have backfired quite considerably. The actions of some on the left, like the antifa riots and the Alexandria shooting have angered Republicans and turned off many independents, and those events were in part motivated by the Russian conspiracy theory. Plus their credibility is completely shot. 

I can only hope that the Democrats will see these poll numbers and decide to move onto other things. Though they have little they can do right now, I can't believe that there is no possibility for bipartisan cooperation. There has to be something that they can do to actually help the country instead of this massive distraction... 

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