Republican pollster Brett Loyd said Friday that he believes a majority of Americans want to see improved relations with Russia.
“I think [with] Russia there’s going to be some sentiment and you’re going to have some leftover Cold War [feelings]. You’re going to have people that are voting that are 65-plus that haven’t had the greatest experience with Russia,” Loyd, president and CEO of the Polling Company, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
{mosads}Loyd’s comments come ahead of President Trump’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on Monday.
Moscow is facing backlash from much of the international community for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and reported nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in the United Kingdom.
According to a Fox News poll released Thursday, a majority of U.S. voters say Trump is not tough enough in his handling of Russia. Just more than a third of those polled said Trump’s response has been “about right,” while 53 percent say they think Trump is “not tough enough” on the Kremlin.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he would raise the issue of election meddling with Putin next week.
“I think we go into that meeting not looking for so much. We want to find out about Syria. We will, of course, ask your favorite question about meddling. I will be asking that question again,” the president said.
The meeting will come on the heels of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s announcement that special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
Russia has denied meddling in the election.
— Julia Manchester
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