Most say Trump should allow Russia investigation to continue - CBS News poll
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, Kabir Khanna and Anthony Salvanto
Eight in 10 Americans, including large majorities across partisan lines, think that Donald Trump should cooperate if he is asked to be interviewed as part of the Russian investigation. Most also think the President should allow the investigation to continue rather than take steps to end it, including more than half of Republicans.
More than six in 10 Americans think it's at least somewhat likely that senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, though the percentage that thinks it's very likely has dropped – from 44 percent in December to 37 percent today.
There are significant partisan differences. Most Democrats think it's likely advisor had improper dealings with Russia, while most Republicans don't. Independents think it's at least somewhat likely that improper dealings occurred.
Even those who think improper dealings with Russia are unlikely still think the investigation should continue, and that Mr. Trump should cooperate with it.
This poll was conducted by telephone January 13-16, 2018 among a random sample of 1,225 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones.
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables.
The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.