From YouGov’s Will Jordan:
Here is Republicans and Democrats on Vladimir Putin since July 2014. pic.twitter.com/s4I6FY5cbt
— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) December 14, 2016
In mid-July, Democrats and Republicans both had an extremely unfavorable view of Putin. On July 18-21, Republicans hold their presidential nominating convention, and a few days later Republican enthusiasm for Putin spiked up. On November 8, Donald Trump was elected president and Republican enthusiasm for Putin spiked up yet again.
What did Putin actually do during this period? He escalated the siege of Aleppo. He escalated military activities in Ukraine. And he released a whole bunch of emails hacked from Democrats and Democratic organizations. I wonder which of these accounts for the sudden bounce in Putin love among conservative Republicans? Hmmm….
