Morning Consult editor Joanna Piacenza said on Monday that Republicans are more likely to forgive a member of their own party facing a political scandal than Democrats are to forgive a member of their own party facing scandal.
“When it comes to scandals, when it comes to unconventional behavior, Republicans are a lot more likely to kind of circle the wagons around their party than Democrats are around members of their party,” Piacenza, features editor at Morning Consult, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”
Republican and Democratic politicians have faced a slew of scandals in recent years, with many pertaining to sexual misconduct.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has been plagued by scandal in recent weeks after a photo on his medical school yearbook page emerged of people in blackface and a Ku Klux Klan costume.
Northam said he is not one of the individuals in the photo but later admitted to wearing blackface to dress up as Michael Jackson when he was younger.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) also faced accusations of sexual assault even as the scandal enfolded around Northam last month.
“If you look at two scandals that have happened in the last couple of months, over the last year, black face and ‘Me Too’ allegations, Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats … to still vote for a politician that’s worn blackface, and they’re almost three times as likely as Democrats to say the same thing about a politician that’s facing Me Too allegations,” she continued, referring to a Morning Consult survey released last month.
“Taking a step back from this poll, Republicans are a lot more accepting, they’re a lot more forgiving of a lot of these scandals that are happening,” she said.
— Julia Manchester
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