More than half of Trump supporters believe the unsubstantiated claim made by the former president that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating cats and dogs, according to a new poll.
Trump’s remark, made during his first debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, was based on social media rumors, which lack evidence, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs—the people that came in,” the former president said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
City officials have discredited these claims, saying there are no reports of any immigrants in the community killing or eating pets as alleged.
Nonetheless, a new poll, conducted by YouGov between September 11 and 12, shows that 52 percent of likely 2024 Trump voters believe that the claim is “definitely” or “probably” true, compared to just 4 percent of likely 2024 Harris voters.
Meanwhile, only 25 percent of likely 2024 Trump voters believe that the claim is “definitely” or “probably” false, while 24 percent are not sure. Of the likely 2024 Harris voters, 88 percent believe the claim is false and 8 percent are not sure.
The poll also shows that 46 percent of registered Republicans “definitely” or “probably” believe the claim, while 29 percent believe it is not true and 24 percent are not sure.
That is compared to 8 percent of registered Democrats who answered that the claim is “definitely” or “probably” true, and 81 percent who said it is false. Ten percent of Democrats said they were not sure.
Overall, 26 percent of the 1,120 adult U.S. citizens polled said they believe the claim, while 54 percent said it is not true and 20 percent said they are not sure.
The poll had a margin of error of ± 3.8 percent. Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign for comment via email.
It follows another recent poll, conducted by Data for Progress between September 11 and 12, which showed that 69 percent of Republicans view Trump’s remarks about Haitian immigrants as “weird.”
Among Democrats, the total was 91 percent and among independents it was 77 percent.
The rumor first began to circulate when Erika Lee, a woman from Springfield, made a Facebook post alleging that her neighbor’s cat had disappeared and that the neighbor suspected that their Haitian residents were involved in the incident.
After the post generated significant attention, Lee told NBC News on Friday that she had no direct evidence supporting such a claim. The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, reportedly got the information about the alleged incident from a third party, according to NBC and NewsGuard.
“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Lee said.
“I’m not a racist,” she continued, adding that her daughter is half Black and she herself is mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent.”
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, debates Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, for the first time during the presidential election campaign at The National Constitution Center on September 10, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More than half of Trump voters believe claims made by Trump that Haitian migrants are eating pets, according to polling.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
On Sunday, Trump’s running mate JD Vance reiterated the false claim during an interview with CNN.
“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the Ohio senator said.
CNN host Dana Bash replied: “You just said that this is a story that you created,” to which Vance responded: “It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies. Her policies did that. 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’s website states that around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants reside in Clark County, including Haitian immigrants who are legally present through a parole program. This program enables U.S. citizens and lawful residents to apply for their family members from Haiti to join them in the United States.
Following last Tuesday’s debate, Springfield residents have reported fliers dropped by the Ku Klux Klan as well as several threats of bombings or mass shootings—the latest of which, at Wittenberg University, occurred Saturday night.
Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said law enforcement had responded to at least 33 separate bomb threats made against Springfield government offices, schools and medical centers since Tuesday’s debate.
The governor indicated that the threats were being made by foreign actors.
“We have people unfortunately overseas who are taking these actions,” DeWine said. “Some of them are coming from one particular country.”
DeWine did not specify the country involved, though U.S. officials have previously accused both Russia and Iran of trying to influence the 2024 presidential election.
“We believe this is yet another attempt to interfere with the United States,” DeWine said regarding the foreign actors behind the threats. “And they’re continuing to do so.”
“We cannot let the bad actors succeed. Our schools must stay open,” he emphasized, announcing that additional law enforcement resources will be allocated to Springfield in response to the growing number of threats.
