Democrats have made “believe women” their rallying cry when it comes to Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, but not when it comes to the woman accusing Rep. Keith Ellison of domestic abuse.
A Minnesota Star Tribune/Minnesota Public Radio poll of likely state voters released last week found only 5 percent of Democrats said they believed that Mr. Ellison “committed an act of domestic violence” against his ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan.
Meanwhile, 42 percent of Republicans surveyed said they did believe Ms. Monahan, whose allegations of “emotional and physical abuse” went public Aug. 12.
Thirty percent of Democrats said they did not believe her, versus 15 percent of Republicans. The rest were undecided.
The findings, first reported by Mediaite, suggest that Democrats are more willing to believe women when their abuse allegations are leveled against Republicans.
“The hypocrisy here is stunning,” said HotAir’s Ed Morrissey.
“For a party which has assumed the ’believe the woman’ mantle, Democrats seem rather reluctant to do so when it impacts their own candidates — at least during election season,” Mr. Morrissey said.
Mr. Ellison gave up his congressional seat to run for Minnesota attorney general, a contest that has been dogged by allegations made by Ms. Monahan, a Sierra Club organizer, which he has denied.
The Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party said last month it would conduct an investigation, a probe mocked by Republicans as hopelessly conflicted, while Ms. Monahan has accused Democrats of trying to smear her.
No, they don’t. I’ve been smeared, threatened, isolated from my own party. I provided medical records from 2017, stating on two different Dr. Visits, I told them about the abuse and who did it. My therapist released records stating I have been dealing and healing from the abuse
— Karen Monahan (@KarenMonahan01) September 17, 2018
The poll released Sept. 19 found Mr. Ellison with a slim 41-36 percent lead over his Republican opponent, former state Rep. Doug Wardlow.
Thousands of protesters flooded the Senate on Monday calling for the defeat of Mr. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, many of them wearing black “Believe Women” T-shirts provided by the Women’s March.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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