A total of 64 percent of voters said the investigations into President Trump and Russia are hurting the US.
Along with that, 56 percent of voters said it’s time for Congress and the media to move on to other issues such as health care, terrorism, national security, the economy and jobs, compared to 44 percent who said the focus should stay on Russia.
Radio Sputnik talked to an American political analyst and professor of political science at Iona College, Dr. Jeanne Zaino, about what the recent survey indicates.
“I am surprised that it wasn’t more than 6 out of 10 because this story has almost consumed the first 150 days of Trump’s administration. It is coming at a time when the Americans are feeling that so many other things need to be addressed,” Zaino said.
She further said that although the Americans would like to see the investigation move forward they would also like to see the administration move forward with the important business of the country.
“This includes such things as health care, which is starting to unravel in this country, immigration, which has been a really hot issue and of course jobs, the economy, security and education,” the professor said.
She said that the voters are getting frustrated because not a single law has been passed that was promised during the campaign.
According to her, the Trump administration is having a tough time because this hype over the Russian investigations has stalled everything else.
She also said that the FBI, Capitol Hill and even the Senate are all involved in this issue and that is totally consuming the Trump administration’s time.
“We are getting reports now that Donald Trump is spending early mornings every day on phone calls just about the Russian investigation,” Zaino said.
Talking about whether some political forces are on purpose drumming the anti-Russia hysteria, the analyst said that the mainstream media outlets aim to generate public viewing and such intriguing stories get them ratings, hence the media focuses on highlighting this instead of reporting on the “intricacies of political debates on issues such as health care.”
“The media really had a field day with this story. The Washington Post, The New York Times, the cable news networks, although I don’t have statistics, I would say they spend half their time covering this issue,” Zaino said.
The Harvard-Harris online survey of 2,237 registered voters was conducted between June 19 and June 21. The partisan breakdown is 35 percent Democrat, 29 percent Republican, 30 percent independent and 6 percent other.
The survey is a collaboration of the Harvard Center for American Political Studies and The Harris Poll.
