Poll: Most Americans think Russia using social platforms for targeted ads is ‘serious issue’

A majority of Americans in a new survey think reports that Russia used social platforms to deliver targeted advertising to American voters is a “serious issue.”

An Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds 54 percent of respondents think the allegations are serious enough to warrant an investigation.

Forty-one percent of respondents think they are more of a distraction.

{mosads}There is a large divide on the issue between Republicans and Democrats.

Just one-quarter of Republicans think the allegations are a serious issue, compared to 73 percent of Republicans who think it is more of a distraction.

But among Democrats, 83 percent think it is a serious issue and just 15 percent think it’s more of a distraction.

The poll also finds 43 percent of those surveyed don’t trust either the federal government or technology companies to protect the U.S. against the influence of foreign governments on social media platforms.

Seventeen percent said they trusted technology companies, 15 percent said they trusted the federal government and 20 percent said they trusted both.

The survey was conducted online from Oct. 23 to 26 and polled 5,474 adults. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.   

Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter are heading before Congress on Tuesday to testify publicly for the first time on how Russia used their platforms to interfere in the 2016 election.

The companies are sending their top lawyers, who will testify in back-to-back hearings before both the House and Senate Intelligence committees.