In a recent poll conducted exclusively for DailyMail.com, over one-third of voters expressed belief in the unfounded claim that Haitian immigrants in the U.S. are consuming pets such as cats and geese.
Despite these allegations being thoroughly debunked, they continue to spread, partly fueled by former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance. They suggest these stories illustrate the chaos linked to uncontrolled immigration, even if the stories themselves lack truth.
The White House has criticized such rumors, denouncing them as ‘dangerous’ misinformation.
However, a survey of 1,000 likely voters by J.L. Partners indicates just how these sensational narratives have permeated American beliefs.
Specifically, 17 percent of respondents claimed they ‘definitely’ believed these stories, while an additional 19 percent considered them ‘probably’ true.
J.L. Partners polled 1000 likely voters to get their views on fake claims that Haitians were eating pets. The results carry a 3 percent margin of error
Interestingly, belief in these tales diminishes when the questions focus on more localized contexts.
Overall only 10 percent thought Haitian immigrants were ‘definitely’ eating pets in their state.
And that number declines to seven percent when voters were asked whether it was happening in their local area.
The data set was too small to tease out state-by-state results across the country.
But in those states with enough respondents all but one had a plurality of people saying they did not think Haitian immigrants were eating pets there.
The exception was Georgia, where 51 percent said they believed it was happening there.
Republicans are more likely to believe the claims. Some 58 percent said they thought the reports were true.
James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners, said: ‘The fact that fewer than half of voters think the story is false speaks volumes: Misinformation can sow doubt, especially when it comes from a voice that half of Americans trust in former President Trump.
‘We could say the same for statements from Harris too, for example saying that Trump supports a federal abortion ban.’
Donald Trump was baited into delivering wild claims about immigrants during his debate with Kamala Harris last weekend, including that they were eating pets
Trump’s Hispanic support crashed after the debate, according to our poll results
But he added that Trump’s switch from attacking the issue of immigration to apparently attacking immigrants themselves could be hurting him.
The overall poll of voter intentions showed that Harris had overtaken him for the first time fueled in part by a 17-point dip in Hispanic support.
‘Trump managed to pull in many Hispanic voters in 2020 who were repelled by his message in 2016: which seemed to criticize immigrants themselves rather than immigration,’ he said.
‘Looking at the decline of Hispanic support in our poll, we have to ask whether those concerns are coming back to the surface in 2024.’
The idea that immigrants are eating pets is not a new American urban legend.
But it appeared to explode back into view with a Facebook post made by a resident of Springfield, Ohio. She posted about her neighbor’s missing cat, linking the disappearance to Haitian immigrants.
A photograph of a man holding a goose in Columbus, Ohio, further excited interest.
Police and local authorities said there was no truth in the rumors, but Vance, who is U.S. Senator for Ohio, took things to another level.
Springfield, Ohio, has been in the spotlight for the past week after the wild claims emerged
Despite the claims being unconfirmed, Ohio senator and VP candidate JD Vance has repeated rumors that Haitian migrants have been eating people’s pets
‘Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,’ he posted on X last week.
Trump then repeated the claim on primetime TV during his debate with Kamala Harris.
‘In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,’ he said. ‘The people that came in. They’re eating the cats.’
Vance brushed off multiple fact checks and denials.
‘The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,’ he told CNN on Sunday. ‘If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.’
Zeve Sanderson, executive director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, said the partisan divide over who believed the claims showed a classic pattern in the spread of fake information.
Trump supporters have shared AI generated memes of the former president
An AI-generated Trump hugs a duck and cat
‘There are both supply and demand-side dynamics that occur with the spread of false claims,’ he said.
‘Elites with strong credibility within their party spread claims, which are believed at higher rates by party members due, in part, to their partisan identity; elites are then incentivized to further spread those false narratives that generate positive signals.’
It happens on both sides of the political divide, he added, shown by the number of Democrats who believed stories about Vance and a couch.
This time there are real world effects. The spread of the rumors has instilled fear in Haitian-Americans who say it is the latest part in a long-running history of slurs
On Tuesday, state troopers were deployed to protect the schools in Springfield where the claims originated after a string of bomb threats.
‘J.D. Vance’s deliberate creation of false and inflammatory claims has had severe and dangerous consequences for Haitian migrants, who are now facing hateful speech and physical threats,’ posted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the only Haitian-American in Congress.
‘We refuse to overlook this—our country deserves better.’
