Cybersecurity & Tech Democracy & Elections Executive Branch

Cybersecurity Fallout From the Partisan Divide Over Russian Election Interference?

Herb Lin
Thursday, July 26, 2018, 8:26 AM

A recent Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 56 percent of Americans strongly agree or somewhat agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Donald Trump. Within that group, only 32 percent of Republicans but 81 percent of Democrats shared that sentiment. It is hardly a surprise, but a partisan divide on this point is quite apparent.

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A recent Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 56 percent of Americans strongly agree or somewhat agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Donald Trump. Within that group, only 32 percent of Republicans but 81 percent of Democrats shared that sentiment. It is hardly a surprise, but a partisan divide on this point is quite apparent.

Cybersecurity has been seen differently. Until recently, there had been a rough consensus about the seriousness of cybersecurity threats, even if partisans of different stripes might have conflicting policy prescriptions. However, to the extent that Russian election meddling is publicly cast as a cybersecurity issue this divide does not bode well and political support for cybersecurity efforts thereby stand to be threatened.

In a Jan. 5 Lawfare post, I argued that for the most part, Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign was not a cybersecurity issue as the U.S. government has understood the latter term. For me, the Ipsos/Reuters poll underscores the importance of keeping the two conceptually separate.

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Cybersecurity & Tech Democracy & Elections Executive Branch
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Herb Lin

Herb Lin

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Dr. Herb Lin is senior research scholar for cyber policy and security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University. His research interests relate broadly to policy-related dimensions of cybersecurity and cyberspace, and he is particularly interested in and knowledgeable about the use of offensive operations in cyberspace, especially as instruments of national policy. In addition to his positions at Stanford University, he is Chief Scientist, Emeritus for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies, where he served from 1990 through 2014 as study director of major projects on public policy and information technology, and Adjunct Senior Research Scholar and Senior Fellow in Cybersecurity (not in residence) at the Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies in the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Prior to his NRC service, he was a professional staff member and staff scientist for the House Armed Services Committee (1986-1990), where his portfolio included defense policy and arms control issues. He received his doctorate in physics from MIT.

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