An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of 1,000 adults found that 43% of respondents were bothered a "great deal" by the purported Russian hacking and 12% were bothered "quite a bit." Nearly a quarter — 23% — aren't bothered at all by the accusations.
However, NBC pointed out December 18, there is a sharp partisan divide evident: 86% of Democrats polled reported being bothered quite a bit or a great deal, versus only 29% of Republican respondents. Among independents, it was 49%.
Despite their concern, the poll found that most Americans, 57%, don't think the alleged hacking influenced the election (37% think hacking helped President-elect Donald Trump).
The poll also shows that Americans aren't that thrilled about how their president-elect is handling himself as he prepares for his new job: 50% said they approved of his handling of the transition, compared with 73% approval for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 77% approval for former President Bill Clinton in 1992.
The poll was conducted December 12 through 15 and has an overall margin of error of plus/minus 3.1 percentage points.
A YouGov poll sponsored by the advocacy group Avaaz found that a majority of US voters would agree with delaying the Electoral College vote that would confirm Trump as president until after the hacking allegations are fully investigated, the group reported December 18.
Fifty-two percent of the 1,000 registered voters polled (37% of whom self-identified as Democrats, 27% as Republicans and 32% as independent) said they'd support postponing the vote. Nearly half — 46% — also said they would support any "faithless electors" or "Hamilton electors" — electors who choose not to vote as their state results dictate but choose another candidate.
Avaaz has collected thousands of signatures on a petition to delay the electoral college vote.
Trump won the Electoral College by a fairly large margin, but his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton looks to beat him in the popular vote by possibly as much as 3 million votes. A movement has spread across the country to convince electors to vote for another Republican candidate, and lawsuits have been filed to change some state laws that mandate that electors must vote the way states instruct.
On December 16, a panel of judges of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it may be unconstitutional for state officials to remove electors once they've started voting, a statement that some see as perhaps undercutting state laws that direct voting.
