While VP candidate JD Vance’s racist efforts to dehumanize legal immigrants from Haiti who are living in his state might still be playing out favorably among groypers, white supremacist bros and QAnon-adjacent online conspiracy mongers, the people who actually live in the state he represents in the Senate are, en masse, not buying the anti-immigrant propaganda.

It’s been a month to the day since Donald Trump brought national attention to a conspiracy theory that Vance first elevated into the mainstream that, up until that point, only existed in the most sinister corners of the internet.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said at the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10. While the unreal debate moment provided fodder for plenty of memes ridiculing Trump and the unseriousness of his campaign in general, it also put the Haitian immigrants who are legally living in Springfield, Ohio with temporary protected status in danger. After Trump’s infamous line during the debate, the city of Springfield was inundated with threats against the Haitian community, forcing elementary schools, government buildings and festivals to shut down.

While Springfield officials and the governor himself put out multiple statements debunking the conspiracy theory — Gov. Mike DeWine even penned an op-ed in the New York Times gently begging “those” spreading the lies to please, please stop — Vance and Trump have been reluctant to to denounce the myth, though they have, for the most part, stopped talking about it.

In a new poll of Ohio voters conducted by The Washington Post, the Post found that nearly half of respondents had heard “a lot” about the Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. Most importantly, a majority of respondents also said they believed the conspiracy theories spread by Trump and Vance are “definitely false.” Per the Post:

The Post poll found that 24 percent think Trump’s comment that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pets is “probably” or “definitely” true, while 57 percent say it is probably or definitely false. Sixteen percent say they aren’t sure.

The results are almost a mirror image of reactions to DeWine, who has said that Trump’s claims are not true and that the Haitian immigrants are in the United States legally and are hard workers. A 55 percent majority of Ohio voters say DeWine’s comments are true, while 26 percent say they are false and 18 percent are not sure.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 3-7. It had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.

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