Sen. Al Franken speaks to the media after returning back to work on Nov. 27. Franken, a Democrat, has apologized following accusations from multiple women that he sexually harassed them. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Poll: Democrats more likely to believe allegations of sexual misconduct

More voters find allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent public figures credible than not credible, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Few voters, in fact, say the allegations against the 10 men tested in the poll are not credible. The only public figures for whom more than 20 percent of voters say accusations of misconduct are not credible are three conservatives: President Donald Trump, former Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly and Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore.


That underscores a key partisan difference in how voters perceive the raft of allegations against prominent men in politics, media and entertainment: Self-identified Democratic voters are likely to believe the allegations against men at the same rate or a greater rate than the overall pool of registered voters, even when the man accused is a Democrat or a liberal.

But Republicans are significantly less likely to believe the accusations against Trump, O’Reilly and Moore. And with less than two weeks until Alabama voters pick the state’s next senator, the percentage of national Republicans who find the allegations against the twice-removed former state Supreme Court justice credible declined since last week.

Overall, 41 percent of voters think the allegations against Moore are credible, while 21 percent do not think they are credible. The remaining 38 percent are undecided.

Only 3 in 10 Republicans think the allegations against Moore are credible, with only slightly fewer, 26 percent, saying they are not credible. In last week’s poll, 36 percent of Republican voters said they found the allegations against Moore credible.

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Of the 10 men the poll asked about, former President Bill Clinton was the individual against whom the greatest percentage of voters, 64 percent, found allegations of sexual misconduct credible. That includes roughly equal percentages of Democrats (65 percent) and Republicans (69 percent).

Second is Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, with 56 percent of voters — 61 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans — finding the allegations against the longtime Democratic donor credible.

Fewer than half of voters, 46 percent, find the allegations against Trump credible, with voters divided more significantly along party lines: 6 in 10 Democrats think the allegations against Trump are credible, but only 34 percent of Republicans agree.





The poll also asked about two Democratic lawmakers in the news for allegations of sexual harassment: Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Fully 46 percent of voters find the allegations against Franken credible — including 47 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans — while only 20 percent do not find them credible.

Fewer voters expressed an opinion about the accusations against Conyers: Nearly a third, 32 percent, say they are credible, and 15 percent say they are not credible. But more than half, 52 percent, say they don’t know or have no opinion.

The poll was conducted November 21-25, before Conyers’ announcement that he would step down temporarily as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee while ethics investigators look into the allegations.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,994 registered voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: http://politi.co/2ne8dp6 | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2ie05mX

