CNN/ORC POLL: 58 PERCENT OF VOTERS DO NOT BELIEVE RUSSIAN HACKING INFLUENCED THE OUTCOME OF THE ELECTION

jonathanturley

9 years ago

The Democratic establishment has been pushing hard on a new narrative that Hillary Clinton lost not because of her record negatives polling going back years on truthfulness or the desire of the voters for an non-establishment candidate or the baggage carried by Clinton into the election. Rather, it was the hacking by the Russians with a bit of help from FBI Director James Comey, according to this universal spin. The media has assisted to a degree by referring to the “Russian hacking of the election,” which is obviously not true. The election was not hacked. No voting machines or tallies were hacked. Emails were hacked and none of those emails appear to have been altered. They were real emails showing highly dishonest conduct by key players. Despite the virtual mantra from Washington, voters are clearly not buying it. A new CNN/ORC poll shows roughly 8 out of 10 voters followed the controversy but 58 percent doubt that the hacking influenced the outcome of the election. [This posting was updated]

I have previously discussed the difficult sell that Democrats would have to make on the hacking spin. As revealed by the intelligence report, the emails were not false or tampered with as claimed by Donna Brazile (who appears immune for media follow ups). The Democrats are trying to trigger outrage among citizens that the hacking revealed true and disturbing emails of lying and vicious dealing by insiders in Washington. It did not work during the campaign and is clearly not working now. That does not mean that citizens are not concerned with Russian hacking. However, citizens have been hearing for years of our own hacking and surveillance of our allies, let alone opposing governments. More importantly, (while ignored by the Democratic leadership at their own peril), voters were in an anti-establishment mood and many relished the fact that establishment figures were exposed like Brazile for things like feeding questions to the Clinton campaign. Of course, there was clearly a selective release of such emails against Democrats and that is a valid objection. However, it takes a lot to get the public upset about being told how insiders lied to them or tried to rig the primary for Clinton.

What is interesting is the the Democrats are continuing this full-court press on the same hacking line despite the polls — a repeat of the strategies from the election. There is no question that the hacking should focus all Americans on the vulnerability of our system and the constant threat from hostile powers like Russia. Yet, the DNC was aware of that danger before the election and yet had a laughable security system. In combination with Clinton’s reckless use of a personal server at Secretary of State, it shows a level of negligence and recklessness that was surprising given years of hacking cases. Ironically, in the end, the emails showed the public that the establishment in Washington is every bit as corrupt and dishonest as they thought. It was only the messenger not the message that came as a surprise.

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