The results of a Detroit News survey this week gauging how Michigan voters feel about the special counsel probe into Trump/Russia prompted an interesting and astute observation from the pollster who conducted it.
"People like to say, 'Oh, everyone’s so divided right now,' but I don’t think that’s the case," said Richard Czuba of the Lansing-based Glengariff Group. "Democrats and independents are viewing these issues similarly, and it’s in fact the Republican base that’s viewing issues differently than everyone else."
The poll found that 63 percent of Michigan voters support Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, while 31 percent do not. More than 51 percent viewed the probe as "fair," while 32 percent called it "rigged" (17 percent weren't sure).
That 30-something percent number recurs in poll after poll regarding just about anything Trump, such as his approval rating, while Democrats and independents appear to be much more closely aligned on a multitude of issues. In fact, a line regularly written by pollsters these days often states something along the lines of, "Republicans are the only demographic group to believe. ..." Meanwhile, a majority of every other demographic group—men, women, Democrats, independents, whites, people of color—believe something different. Take this July Quinnipiac poll, for instance, which found voters believe 51-35 percent that the Russian government has compromising information on Trump.
Republicans don't believe 70 - 18 percent there is compromising information, the only listed party, gender, education, age or racial group which does not believe it.
If you look at Civiqs polling on whether respondents view Russia as an "ally or foe," solid majorities of both Democrats (88 percent) and independents (59 percent) say Russia's a foe, while less than half of Republicans do (47 percent).
Or look at Kaiser's most recent tracking poll of top issues for voters: both Democrats and independents ranked health care and corruption as their top two issues; while Republicans put economy/jobs and immigration at No. 1 and 2. Immigration ranked second to last for both Democrats and independents. And while Russian election interference was a top 4 issue for both Democrats and independents, it was dead last for Republicans.
But perhaps even more telling than comparing Republicans to Democrats/independents is comparing Fox News viewers to people who get their news just about any other way. That's a question the Detroit News poll asked of Michiganders about whether the Mueller probe was fair.
The survey found that 70 percent of respondents who primarily get their news from the Fox News cable channel say the Russia investigation is "rigged."
Voters whose primary source of news is something other than Fox (newspapers, radio, network television, local TV, CNN or MSNBC) overwhelmingly declared the probe "fair."
Maybe it's not Republicans vs. the rest of us but rather Fox News watchers vs. the nation.