Poll: Putin favorability surges with Republicans

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorability among Americans is at its highest point since 2003, with Republicans behind his gains, according to a new Gallup poll released Tuesday.

Twenty-one percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Russian president in the survey — up from 13 percent in 2015 — while 72 percent have an unfavorable view.

Putin’s favorability is up 20 percentage points among Republicans, with 32 percent holding a favorable view of him today, compared to 12 percent in 2015.

Ten percent of Democrats have a favorable view of Putin today, compared to 15 percent in 2015. The Russian leader’s favorability among independents is up 11 percentage points, with 23 percent having a favorable view of him today compared to 12 percent two years ago.

{mosads}Some 28 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Russia itself, while 70 percent hold an unfavorable view of the country.

The poll comes as President Trump enters his second month in office after promising to mend U.S.-Russia relations. The intelligence community in a report last month concluded that Putin ordered an influence campaign with the goal of helping Trump win the White House. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for an investigation into Russia’s hacking of emails belonging to Democratic political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 1-5 by telephone, surveying 1,035 adults throughout the country. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.