Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, who closely worked with former president Donald Trump, said the GOP nominee met the definition of a fascist and he repeatedly expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, according to a bombshell interview published this week. As the comments have repeatedly made headlines (with help from the Harris campaign, which has amplified them) half the country seemingly agrees with this depiction, according to a new survey.
The poll, conducted by ABC News/Ipsos, found that half the country sees the former President as a fascist, while far fewer think the same of Vice President Harris. The poll was conducted between Oct. 18-22 in English and Spanish among 2,808 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The survey found that 49% of registered voters say Trump is a fascist, which they defined as a "political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against opponents." Far fewer, 22%, think the same of Harris.
Perceptions of fascism are tied to partisanship, ABC News reports. 87% of Democrats call Trump a fascist, compared with 46% of independents and 12% of Republicans. On the other hand, Harris is seen as a fascist by 41% of Republicans, 20% of independents and 3% of Democrats.
Candidate support also helps to perceptions of fascism. 87% of registered voters who support Harris for president see Trump as a fascist. Fewer Trump supporters, 42%, see Harris as a fascist. Among registered voters who think Trump is a fascist, 8% nevertheless support him.
Likewise, nearly two-thirds of respondents say Trump often departs from the truth, a higher number than those who thought the same of Harris. But the Vice President gets more criticism than Trump for pandering for votes by promoting policies she doesn't intend to carry out.
However, despite respondents' views of the candidates and fascism, their answers didn't add up to a much higher sense of crisis if he's elected. Instead, both candidates see a high score when it comes to this issue. Among registered voters who don't support Trump, 68% say his election would be a crisis for the country. Among those who don't support Harris, almost as many, 64% say it would be a crisis if she won.
The word fascism has made headlines this week after Gen. John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general who was algo Trump's longest serving White House chief of staff, made unprecedented comments in an on-the-record interview with The New York Times, declaring that the former president met the definition of a fascist and revealed the now-GOP nominee has praised Hitler in several instances.
Since that initial report, the Harris campaign has taken the opportunity to slam their opponent. At a CNN town hall, the Vice President also took the opportunity to call the former President a fascist as part of her closing statement.
At the same time, more than a dozen former Trump administration officials signed on to an open letter backing Kelly comments. The letter was signed by several prominent Trump critics, including some who have publicly endorsed Harris, including former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin and former national security aide Olivia Troye.
"Everyone should heed General Kelly's warning. We have witnessed, up close and personal, how Donald Trump operates and what he is capable of," the former officials wrote.
"The American people deserve a leader who won't threaten to turn armed troops against them, won't put his quest for power above their needs, and doesn't idealize the likes of Adolf Hitler," they continued. "Donald Trump demonstrates every day he is not capable of being commander in chief of this great nation."
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