Nearly half of American voters believe the U.K. is ‘interfering’ in their election after Labour Party activists volunteered to campaign for Kamala Harris.
The finding threatens to ‘poison’ the transatlantic relationship over the next four years if Donald Trump retakes the White House, according to people close to the former president.
In an exhaustive DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners final national poll before Election Day voters were asked whether the development amounted to election interference.
Of the 1,000 respondents 43 percent said it was election interference, while 28 percent said it was not, and 29 percent were unsure.
Both Republicans and Democrats were among those surveyed for the poll, which showed Trump with a three-point national lead over Harris.
The final DailyMail.com poll shows 43 percent of U.S. voters think the U.K. is ‘interfering’
The result reflects the fury with which the British move has been met by some Trump campaign insiders.
This week, Eric Trump, the former president’s son, told DailyMail.com that ‘as a U.S. citizen it p****s me off.’
He added: ‘It poisons a relationship if the election goes another way.
‘How in the world does that benefit U.K.-U.S. relations? It’s so counterintuitive to me. I think a lot of people would find that pretty disappointing.’
The Trump campaign has filed a complaint in Washington D.C. with the Federal Election Commission, which oversees U.S. elections.
It called for an investigation into whether Labour had made illegal contributions to the Harris campaign.
The complaint said: ‘I write on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. to request an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference in the 2024 Presidential Election in the form of apparent illegal foreign national contributions.’
Trump leads Harris by three points in the final DailyMail.com poll
It cited a LinkedIn post from Sofia Patel, the Labour Party’s head of operations.
The post, which has since been deleted, said: ‘I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the U.S. in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
‘I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing.’
The Trump campaign was angered by what it sees as interference by the Labour Party
Sir Keir Starmer has been hoping to build a good personal relationship with Trump
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts at her campaign rally, in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S., October 30, 2024
Susie Wiles, Trump’s de facto campaign manager, has been particularly withering in her response, describing Labour as a ‘far-left’ political party that has ‘inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies.’
She said: ‘Americans will once again reject the oppression of big government that we rejected in 1776.’
Despite the hurricane-force backlash Starmer has denied it will damage his relations with Trump if the Republican becomes president again.
The Prime Minister has insisted that Labour activists are ‘doing it in their spare time’ and ‘staying, I think, with other volunteers over there.’
British political activists have long traveled to the U.S. ahead of elections, with those from the Labour Party usually supporting the Democrats, and Conservatives traditionally backing the Republicans.
But with the U.S. election set to be one of the closest in history any perception that an ally is seeking to place a thumb on the scale will inevitably not sit well with Trump.
Trump has overtaken Harris in DailyMail.com polling
Officials have also confirmed that senior Labour advisers went to the U.S. in recent months to meet Democrat strategists.
They discussed Starmer’s landslide victory in the British election in July and how Labour successfully won back former industrial areas that had abandoned them.
Electoral law allows foreigners to volunteer for U.S. political campaigns but they cannot make financial contributions.
The issue of whether the British volunteers are breaking electoral law will hinge on whether Labour covered any of their costs.
Democrat Bernie Sanders’s campaign was previously fined by the FEC after Australia’s Labour Party paid for its volunteers to travel to the U.S. and support him.
