NBC/SurveyMonkey: Most Americans (but not young Repubs) think Russia unfriendly

[Mr. Morden]

NBC/SurveyMonkey has a new poll on NATO and Russia:

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/data-points/poll-majority-americans-worried-about-war-feel-favorably-toward-nato-n723931

[Mr. Morden]

In same the poll, 51% consider China at least friendly as well

Yeah, though I don’t see crosstabs given there for China.

Looks like this poll by Morning Consult asks almost exactly the same questions on multiple countries:

http://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015a-62e4-dc17-a57a-f6fc0d810002

Russia: ally, friendly, unfriendly, enemy?

all RVs:
ally or friendly 43%
enemy or unfriendly 43%

Dems
ally or friendly 33%
enemy or unfriendly 55%

GOP
ally or friendly 54%
enemy or unfriendly 32%

age 18-29
ally or friendly 51%
enemy or unfriendly 30%

age 65+
ally or friendly 40%
enemy or unfriendly 52%

China: ally, friendly, unfriendly, enemy?

all RVs:
ally or friendly 51%
enemy or unfriendly 34%

Dems
ally or friendly 52%
enemy or unfriendly 33%

GOP
ally or friendly 51%
enemy or unfriendly 35%

age 18-29
ally or friendly 54%
enemy or unfriendly 20%

age 65+
ally or friendly 50%
enemy or unfriendly 43%

Oh, there’s also this…

“Do you feel the US relationship with Russia is too close, not close enough, or about right?”

Dems
too close 36%
about right 19%
not close enough 24%

GOP
too close 13%
about right 39%
not close enough 28%

[Mr. Morden]

PPP’s new national poll:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2017/PPP_Release_National_22417.pdf

“Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Russia?”

favorable 12%
unfavorable 61%
not sure 27%

“Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Vladimir Putin?”

favorable 8%
unfavorable 73%
not sure 19%

%age of Trump, Clinton, Johnson, and Stein voters with a favorable opinion of Russia:
Trump: 23%
Clinton: 6%
Johnson: 3%
Stein: 8%

%age of Trump, Clinton, Johnson, and Stein voters with a favorable opinion of Putin:
Trump: 20%
Clinton: 0%
Johnson: 0%
Stein: 3%

[Mr. Morden]

All the Republicans saying Russia isn't bad now are the ones fully agreeing with Romney in 2012 when he said the same thing. Guess they have to listen to the strong man and not think for themselves.

I am not sure that’s totally true.  I mean, it’s true that many (most?) of the folks in this poll probably don’t care that much about foreign policy, and will just go along with whatever the party leadership tells them.

But I do think there’s some organic Putin-love on a certain segment of the American right that would exist even in the absence of Trump.  As Peter Beinart put it, the split on the right over Russia centers around whether one is an “ideological” or “civilizational” conservative:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/the-conservative-split-on-russia/510317/

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