Poll: Two-thirds of Americans want special prosecutor for Trump-Russia investigation
Two-thirds of Americans believe a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate potential ties between Trump campaign aides and Russia, according to a new poll out Monday.
In the poll, from CNN/ORC, 65 percent of those surveyed said they thought an independent special prosecutor should handle the investigation, compared with 32 percent who said Congress is capable of looking into the allegations against the president and his top aides.
These numbers come the week after reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice with the Russian ambassador during the campaign, a revelation that resulted in Sessions recusing himself from future investigations involving the Trump campaign.
There’s a sharp partisan divide among those surveyed when it comes to the Russia investigation. Among Democrats, a vast majority -- 82 percent -- believe a special prosecutor should be in charge of the investigation. On the other side of the aisle, a majority of Republicans believe Congress can handle it. The same is true of whether Americans are “concerned” by the possible Trump-Russia ties: 71 percent of Democrats say they are “very concerned” about it, but 54 percent of Republicans say they are not concerned “at all.”
Despite talk of investigations into Mr. Trump’s team and contact with Russian officials, his approval rating has not suffered in the last few weeks: the poll found that 45 percent approve of Mr. Trump, compared with 44 percent in January.
However, Vice President Mike Pence’s favorability ratings have increased since taking office in January: he now has a favorability rating of 47 percent, compared with 40 percent back in January. And Congress, too, is viewed more favorably now: 28 percent of those surveyed said they approve of Congress, compared with 20 percent in January.
And the week after Mr. Trump delivered his speech to a joint session of Congress, Americans are split on whether his proposed policies will help take the country in the right direction. Forty-nine percent believe his policies are moving the country in the right direction, compared with 50 percent who say they’re headed in the wrong direction.
The poll surveyed 1,025 American adults from March 1-4, and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.