One In Ten Americans Don’t Know Donald Trump Is Accused Of Sexual Harassment, According To New Survey
Only one in 10 Americans claim to have no knowledge that Donald Trump has been accused of sexual harassment, according to a new survey commissioned by Bad Girls Bible.
Last year, sexual harassment became a topic of national conversation, largely started by allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Those accusations were followed by accusations of well over 100 famous men, from Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. to Ben Affleck and dozens of other men. And that’s not to mention Bill Cosby, whose name has been coming up long before the Weinstein allegations broke. Those men have been accused of everything from outright sexual assault to inappropriate comments, as well as everything in between.
None other than the president of the United States is one of those men. In addition to allegations of extramarital affairs brought by both adult film actress Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, the president has also been accused by no fewer than 20 different women of acts of sexual misconduct, according to the Guardian.
However, that news has escaped the attention of 11 percent of Americans.
According to the poll commissioned by the magazine, 89 percent of respondents reported being aware of sexual harassment allegations against Donald Trump. Only Bill Cosby could claim more Americans being aware of sexual misconduct allegations against him, with 93 percent of respondents being aware. Next was Harvey Weinstein, with 86 percent of respondents reporting being aware.
As to how interested Americans are in these stories, at least 1 percent report that they don’t care at all about sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men. Fifty percent reported that they follow these stories “somewhat closely,” and 13 percent said that they follow these stories “very closely.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, whether Americans are inclined to believe sexual misconduct allegations against famous men depends both on gender and party affiliation. Seventy-six percent of Democrats say they usually believe that sexual misconduct allegations are true, compared to 45 percent of Republicans. Women in general (63 percent) were more likely to believe sexual assault allegations than men (56 percent). And when both gender and political affiliation are thrown into the mix, the results can be seen in the image below.
As for what all of this means for Donald Trump: likely very little, at least for the short term. Trump has proven remarkably resilient when it comes to scandal, particularly his alleged sexual misconduct. The biggest issue facing his presidency, at least at the moment, is the Russia scandal, which as of this writing has claimed several former associates but has not yet touched the president. Meanwhile, Republicans are hoping Trump’s popularity with his base, as well as a thriving economy, can help the president and his party retain control of Congress following the 2018 mid-term elections.
