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A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 20 June 2019
AP-NORC poll: Majority worry about 2020 foreign meddling

authorities also plan to ex-
amine North Carolina poll-
ing equipment that used
software by a company
targeted by Russian mili-
tary hackers to determine
if intentional tampering oc-
curred aimed at disrupting
voting.
The poll was conducted
roughly two months after
the release of Mueller's re-
port on his investigation
into potential coordination
between the Trump cam-
paign and Russia.
That report did not estab-
lish a criminal conspiracy
between Trump associates
and the Kremlin to sway the
outcome of the election. It
did not reach a conclusion
on whether the president
had criminally obstructed
justice, citing a Justice De-
partment legal opinion that
says sitting presidents can-
not be indicted.
Trump has repeatedly said
the report found "no collu-
sion" and claimed vindica-
tion in Attorney General
William Barr's announce-
ment that he found Muel-
In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, voting booths stand ready in downtown Minneapolis for the opening of early voting in Minnesota. ler's evidence insufficient
to establish an obstruction
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A ments influencing political to the election. The efforts Chris Wray has said the bu- charge.
majority of Americans are candidates or affecting were aimed at helping Re- reau regards last Novem- The poll shows about half of
concerned that a foreign voters' perceptions of the publican Donald Trump ber's midterm elections as Americans think the Mueller
government might inter- candidates, along with over Democratic rival Hill- a "dress rehearsal for the report did not completely
fere in some way in the hacking candidate com- ary Clinton, according to big show in 2020." clear Trump of obstruction,
2020 presidential election, puter systems to steal infor- special counsel Robert He has said efforts to un- while many also think it
whether by tampering with mation. Mueller's report. dermine democracy and didn't clear him of coordi-
election results, stealing in- In total, the poll, conduct- "I think that it's been pret- influence public opinion nating with Russia.
formation or by influencing ed Thursday through Mon- ty well-documented that through social media, pro- Overall, 48% said they think
candidates or voter opin- day, shows 63% of Ameri- people have been influ- paganda and false per- the report didn't clear
ion, a new poll shows. cans have major concerns enced in the past by social sonas have continued un- Trump of obstruction, while
The poll from The Associ- about at least one of those media," said Luci Dvorak, abated and are "not just an just 20% think it did. Another
ated Press-NORC Center types of foreign election in- 32, an Illinois teacher. She election-cycle threat." 30% say they don't know
for Public Affairs Research terference, including 80% said she found it concern- "We saw that, therefore, enough to say.
finds Democrats far more of Democrats and 46% of ing that Trump has been continue full speed in 2018, Many Americans — 44% —
likely to express the highest Republicans. "very casual" about get- in the midterms," Wray said also think the report did not
level of concern, but Dem- The results make clear that ting foreign help and even in April at a Council on For- clear Trump of coordina-
ocrats and Republicans despite the efforts of U.S. seemed to invite it. eign Relations event. "What tion with Russia, while 24%
alike have at least some officials to ward off elec- Trump said in a television we did not see in 2018 was think it did and 31% aren't
concerns about interfer- tion interference and to interview last week that any material impact or in- sure.
ence. urge public awareness he would be open to re- terference with election "It's the twisting of the op-
Overall, half of Americans and calm, Americans re- ceiving a foreign govern- infrastructure or, you know, position party that's given
say they're extremely or main anxious that some ment's help in the next campaign infrastructure." him all this static, where
very concerned about for- of the same tactics Russia election. He slightly walked The decentralized nature he's not able to move or
eign interference in the used to meddle in the 2016 back those comments in of the country's elections, do what he'd like to do,"
form of altered election re- presidential election could a follow-up interview, say- which are run on a local said 88-year-old Dennis
sults or voting systems, even surface again in the next ing that though he would level and rely on differ- Halaszynski, who is retired
though hackers bent on race. want to look at foreign dirt ent and varied voting sys- and lives in McKeesport,
causing widespread havoc Those include the spread of on an opponent to assess if tems, would make it hard Pennsylvania.
at polling places face chal- disinformation online to sow it was correct, he would "of for hackers to cause wide- "They said at the beginning
lenges in doing so. An addi- divisions among American course" also report it to the spread problems. that he's going to go to jail,
tional quarter is somewhat voters, and the hacking FBI or the attorney general. But concerns remain: Rus- and they're doing their best
concerned. by military intelligence of- U.S. officials are on high sian hackers gained access to put him in jail," he add-
Similarly, about half are ficers of Democratic emails alert to protect against to voter databases in two ed. "He's just not having the
very concerned by the that were then published interference like what oc- Florida counties ahead of time, the proper time, to do
prospect of foreign govern- by WikiLeaks in the run-up curred in 2016. FBI Director the 2016 election. Federal what he'd like to do."q