--- description: More than half of Americans are concerned by reports of Russian hacking during the 2016 election title: More Than Half of Americans Are Concerned About Russian Election Interference image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta50de2112cac17c8/6988b358bc6cfc3da93df9b7/donald-trump-russia-hacking.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Polls](/tag/polls/) ## Polls Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # More Than Half of Americans Are Concerned About Russian Election Interference by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2016 7:00 PM CUT  President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on December 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on December 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama.Mark Wallheiser—;Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 18, 2016 7:00 PM CUT More than half of Americans are concerned by reports of Russian hacking during the 2016 election, according to a new national [NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-55-percent-concerned-about-russia-s-interference-election-n697391 "undefined"). Forty-three percent of poll respondents said they are bothered a “great deal” by Russian interference in the election, while 12% more said they were bothered “quite a bit.” The CIA, the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence agreed on findings that [Russians interfered in the U.S. presidential election](http://time.com/4605818/john-mccain-donald-trump-russia/?xid=homepage "undefined") as part of an effort to assist [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-choice/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod "undefined"), the Washington _Post_ [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-blames-putins-personal-grudge-against-her-for-election-interference/2016/12/16/12f36250-c3be-11e6-8422-eac61c0ef74d%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.24f6e8e030f5 "undefined") on Friday, shortly before President Obama publicly warned Russia against hacking. The poll found a significant partisan divide on the issue of Russian hacking; 86% of Democrats said they were bothered by the interference, compared to just 29% of Republicans who said the same. According to the poll, 49% of independents said they were bothered. Divisions remained regarding Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin—61% of Democrats say the two are too friendly, while just 8% of Republicans said they believed the same. Of the respondents, 23% said they weren’t bothered at all by the news, while 8% said they were bothered “very little” and 10% the news bothered them “just some.” Although 55% of respondents said they were concerned about Russian hacking, only 37% said the actions helped Trump win the election, while 57% said it didn’t make a difference. The NBC/WSJ poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4605845/donald-trump-russia-election-hack-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4605845/donald-trump-russia-election-hack-poll/"},"headline":"More Than Half of Americans Are Concerned About Russian Election Interference","datePublished":"2016-12-18T19:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:21:34.419Z","description":"But there's a big partisan divide on the issue following the election of Donald Trump","url":"https://time.com/4605845/donald-trump-russia-election-hack-poll/","keywords":["Polls","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta50de2112cac17c8/6988b358bc6cfc3da93df9b7/donald-trump-russia-hacking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta50de2112cac17c8/6988b358bc6cfc3da93df9b7/donald-trump-russia-hacking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Thank You Rally In Mobile, Alabama","caption":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Thank You Rally In Mobile, Alabama","creditText":"Mark Wallheiser—;Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/polls/","name":"Polls"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4605845/donald-trump-russia-election-hack-poll/","name":"More Than Half of Americans Are Concerned About Russian Election Interference"}}]}] ```