Poll: Half of Donald Trump supporters see Russia as ally or friendly nation

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Almost half of Donald Trump's supporters describe Russia as an ally or friendly nation in a new Politico/Morning Consult poll.

In the poll, released Monday, 49 percent of Trump supporters see Russia as an ally or friendly nation. But only 24 percent of Trump supporters have a positive view of Russia.

Conversely, 19 percent of supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton see Russia in a positive light.

Trump has said he'd like to "get along" with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

Also, 32 percent of Republicans said in the poll they accept the Obama administration's conclusion that Moscow is trying to influence the November election through computer hacking. Among Democrats, it's 50 percent.

Trump has questioned whether Russia is to blame for the stolen emails. "Maybe there is no hacking," he said during his debate with Clinton last week.

Among all voters, 34 percent said they favor economic sanctions in retaliation for the hacking and 33 percent are opposed. Only 20 percent said the United States should retaliate against Russia with cyber attacks, compared with 51 percent opposed.

The new poll also finds support for Trump's contention that the election is "rigged. Seventy-three percent of Republicans polled said they think the election could be stolen from Trump, compared with 17 percent of Democrats.

"The results show that voters are increasingly losing confidence that votes around the country will be counted accurately on Election Day," said Kyle Dropp, co-founder and chief research officer at Morning Consult. "The sentiment especially rings true among Trump's supporters, with half expressing concern about a 'rigged election.'"

The poll was conducted among 1,999 registered voters using an online panel from Oct. 13-15. It has a margin of error of 2 percent.

Among 1,737 likely voters, Clinton is beating Trump by 5 percentage points in a two-way race, 46 percent to 41 percent. In the four-way contest, Clinton is ahead of Trump 42 percent to 36 percent, with 10 percent supporting Gary Johnson and 3 percent supporting Jill Stein.