More Than Half of Trump Voters Believe Haitians Are Eating Pets: Poll - Newsweek
By: Martha McHardy (Newsweek)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
More than half of Trump supporters believe the unsubstantiated claim made by the former president that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating cats and dogs, according to a new poll.
Trump's remark, made during his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, was based on social media rumors, which lack evidence, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs—the people that came in," the former president said. "They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
City officials have discredited these claims, saying there are no reports of any immigrants in the community killing or eating pets as alleged.
Nonetheless, a new poll, conducted by YouGov between September 11 and September 12, shows that 52 percent of likely 2024 Trump voters believe that the claim is "definitely" or "probably" true, compared to just 4 percent of likely 2024 Harris voters.
Meanwhile, only 25 percent of likely 2024 Trump voters believe that the claim is "definitely" or "probably" false, while 24 percent said they are not sure. Of the likely 2024 Harris voters, 88 percent believe the claim is false and 8 percent are not sure.
The poll also shows that 46 percent of registered Republicans "definitely" or "probably" believe the claim, while 29 percent believe it is not true and 24 percent are not sure.
That is compared to 8 percent of registered Democrats who answered that the claim is "definitely" or "probably" true, and 81 percent who said it is false. Ten percent of Democrats said they were not sure.
Overall, 26 percent of the 1,120 adult U.S. citizens polled said they believe the claim, while 54 percent said it is not true and 20 percent said they are not sure.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign for comment via email.
The new poll follows another recent one conducted by Data for Progress between September 11 and September 12, which showed that 69 percent of Republicans view Trump's remarks about Haitian immigrants as "weird."
The discussion about eating pets first began to circulate when Erika Lee, a woman from Springfield, made a Facebook post alleging that her neighbor's cat had disappeared and that the neighbor suspected that their Haitian residents were involved in the incident.
After the post generated significant attention, Lee told NBC News on Friday that she had no direct evidence supporting such a claim. The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, reportedly got the information about the alleged incident from a third party, according to NBC and NewsGuard.
"It just exploded into something I didn't mean to happen," Lee said.
"I'm not a racist," she continued, adding that her daughter is half Black and she herself is mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. "Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent."
On Sunday, Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, repeated the false claim during an interview with CNN.
"The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do," the Ohio senator said.
CNN host Dana Bash replied: "You just said that this is a story that you created," to which Vance responded: "It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it. I didn't create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris' policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris' policies."
The city of Springfield's website states that around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants reside in Clark County, including Haitian immigrants who are legally present through a parole program. This program enables U.S. citizens and lawful residents to apply for their family members from Haiti to join them in the United States.
Following last Tuesday's debate, Springfield residents have reported fliers dropped by the Ku Klux Klan as well as several threats of bombings or mass shootings—the latest of which, at Wittenberg University, occurred Saturday night.
Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said law enforcement had responded to at least 33 separate bomb threats made against Springfield government offices, schools and medical centers since Tuesday's debate.
The governor indicated that the threats were being made by foreign actors.
"We have people unfortunately overseas who are taking these actions," DeWine said. "Some of them are coming from one particular country."
DeWine did not specify the country involved, though U.S. officials have previously accused both Russia and Iran of trying to influence the 2024 presidential election.
"We believe this is yet another attempt to interfere with the United States," DeWine said regarding the foreign actors behind the threats. "And they're continuing to do so."
"We cannot let the bad actors succeed. Our schools must stay open," he emphasized, announcing that additional law enforcement resources will be allocated to Springfield in response to the growing number of threats.
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The key problem with the 2024 electorate is that too many believe whatever this irresponsible pathological liar claims.
based on recent data I read about that same polling group, half of that half, 25%, think trump should seize power if he loses. that could make for an interesting holiday season.
I wonder how they imagine he could do that.
I'd say that particular well of ignorance seems to be bottomless ...
This has been a weapon used by the US and many of its white citizens for centuries.
Nothing new to many that have been on the receiving end, Asian, black, Hispanic, Indians. Sadly many in our country on SOS (stuck on stupid).
Which vindicates the opinion I've had about the American education system I've had since I was a teenager.
Well you can't teach those who don't want to learn.
That percentage that believe this hatred must be the ones that have been released from the insane asylums as he claimed, must have been for the criminally insane
Why isn't Dewine denouncing and calling out the former 'president' and vance for this?
I guess he doesn't want any bomb threats, death threats, or his family harassed by the maga cult.
Silly me.
How quickly I forget
Isn't he a Republican? I guess he doesn't want to be voted out like Liz Cheney was for putting principle over personal benefit.
Yes, of course. Plus like dev says . . . . .
There's the other 'secondary lie' about communicable diseases 'skyrocketing' at the same time from the article on MSN
"At bottom, Vance’s whole purpose of running with the grotesque pet-eating lie has not been to draw attention to the story of Springfield, but to rewrite it," he argued. "He wants to transform the Haitian influx into a symbol of immigration that’s uniformly understood (as in the Trump-MAGA worldview) as a massive and disorienting alien invasion responsible for unleashing all manner of debilitating social and societal ills."
Vance's attacks on migrants – which Trump amplified to tens of millions of viewers during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris — has led to multiple bomb threats called into both Springfield municipal government offices and even elementary schools in the area. Some members of the Haitian community, who fled political persecution and violence in their home country, have said they're considering relocating out of Springfield due to the vitriol fueled by the Republican ticket.
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced he would be deploying additional public safety resources in the wake of Trump and Vance's attacks. However, he has remained relatively silent about the anti-immigrant rhetoric by the GOP presidential nominee and his state's junior U.S. senator.
Nothing surprising about this - being a believer in conspiracies and being a Trump supporter go hand in hand.