If the lies fit one's pre-conceived notions, if that's what they really want to believe, folks will believe it. I wonder if the Russia thing wasn't aimed at the Democratic base more than anyone else. If it was aimed at independents, it didn't work, Trump won them anyway and thus the White House.
Perhaps the millions spent on this was wasted. Independents aren't political junkies and a lot of them base their vote on who or which candidate they like the best or dislike the worst. 2016 that candidate was Hillary Clinton whom independents disliked the worst, Trump was really disliked worse in 2020. Looking at just how independents view the candidate, the percentage of like and dislike, usually comes within a few points of how they vote for that candidate. The question I follow is "Whether you agree or disagree with (Name) policies, do you like or dislike (name) as a person.
2016 that got messed up a bit, mainly because 54% of independents disliked both Trump and Clinton as a person. But in the end 27% liked Hillary as a person, 33% Trump. Trump won independents by 4 points 46-42 with 12% voting third party against both. The 6 point difference ended up being 4 points in favor of Trump. But a lot of independents voted for the candidate they least wanted to lose, not win with the rest voting third party.
What I found interesting, being a numbers guy is 12% of independents voted third party in the presidential, 46-42-12 in 2016, but only 4% in the congressional elections. 51-47-4 in favor of the Republicans.
