More than half of Republicans believe Haitians eat pets: poll

More than half of Trump supporters believe the former president’s unproven claim that Haitian immigrants kidnap and eat cats and dogs, according to a new poll.

Trump’s remark during his first debate with Vice President Kamala Harris was based on social media rumors that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, but there is no evidence to support these rumors.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs – the people who came here,” the former president said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there. That’s what’s happening in our country, and it’s a disgrace.”

City officials have denied these claims, saying there have been no reports of immigrants killing or eating pets in the community, as has been alleged.

Yet a new poll conducted by YouGov between September 11 and 12 shows that 52 percent of likely Trump voters in 2024 believe the claim is “definitely” or “probably” true, compared to just 4 percent of likely Harris voters in 2024.

Meanwhile, only 25 percent of likely Trump voters in 2024 believe the claim is “definitely” or “probably” false, while 24 percent are unsure. Of likely Harris voters in 2024, 88 percent believe the claim is false, and 8 percent are unsure.

The poll also shows that 46 percent of registered Republicans “definitely” or “probably” believe this claim, while 29 percent believe it is untrue and 24 percent are not sure.

By comparison, 8 percent of registered Democrats responded that the claim was “definitely” or “probably” true, and 81 percent said it was false. Ten percent of Democrats said they weren’t sure.

Overall, 26 percent of the 1,120 U.S. adults surveyed said they believed the claim, 54 percent said it was untrue and 20 percent said they were not sure.

The margin of error of the survey was ± 3.8 percent. Newsweek The Trump team asked for comment via email.

The poll follows another recent survey conducted by U.S. firm Data for Progress on Sept. 11-12, which found that 69 percent of Republicans found Trump’s remarks about Haitian immigrants “weird.”

Among Democrats, this figure was 91 percent and among independents, 77 percent.

The rumor first emerged when Erika Lee, a Springfield woman, claimed on Facebook that her neighbor’s cat had gone missing and that her neighbor suspected her Haitian roommates were involved in the incident.

After the post attracted widespread attention, Lee told NBC News on Friday that she had no direct evidence to support such a claim. The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, reportedly received the information about the alleged incident from third parties, according to NBC and NewsGuard.

“It just exploded into something I didn’t intend,” Lee said.

“I’m not racist,” she continued, adding that her daughter is half black and she herself is biracial and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “Everyone seems to portray it that way, and that was not my intention.”

On Sunday, Trump’s running mate JD Vance repeated this false claim in an interview with CNN.

“The American media completely ignored this issue until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to make up stories to get the American media to actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then I will do that,” said the senator from Ohio.

CNN anchor Dana Bash responded, “You just said that this is a story you made up,” to which Vance replied, “It comes from eyewitness accounts from my constituents. I’m saying we’re creating a story, which is to say, we’re creating the American media that focuses on it. I didn’t cause 20,000 illegal immigrants to come to Springfield because of Kamala Harris’ policies. That’s what her policies did. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris’ policies.”

The City of Springfield website states that there are approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in Clark County, including Haitian immigrants who are in the country legally under a parole program that allows U.S. citizens and legal residents to apply to join their family members from Haiti in the United States.

Following last Tuesday’s debate, Springfield residents reported leaflets dropped by the Ku Klux Klan and several threats of bombings and mass shootings, the latest of which occurred Saturday night at Wittenberg University.

Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine said police have responded to at least 33 separate bomb threats against government buildings, schools and medical centers in Springfield since Tuesday’s debate.

The governor pointed out that the threats came from foreign actors.

“Unfortunately, there are people abroad who carry out such actions,” DeWine said. “Some of them come from a specific country.”

DeWine did not name which country, although US authorities had previously accused both Russia and Iran of trying to influence the 2024 presidential election.

“We believe this is another attempt to influence the United States,” DeWine said of the foreign actors behind the threats. “And they continue to do so.”

“We cannot allow the evildoers to succeed. Our schools must remain open,” he stressed, announcing that additional resources would be made available to law enforcement in Springfield in response to the growing number of threats.