Most Americans support Trump investigation, but skeptical
Support split down party lines, with some 60% of Democrats and 60% of independents supporting investigating Trump’s relationship with Putin, while around 66% of Republicans oppose it.
By YVETTE J. DEANEUpdated: JANUARY 27, 2019 13:43President Donald Trump listens as his former personal attorney Michael Cohen delivers remarks on his behalf(photo credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST)
Some 60% of Americans support House Democrats using their authority to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns, a joint Washington Post and ABC survey reported on Sunday.Similar percentages support the Democrats investigating Trump's alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 campaign (57%), his suspected ties with foreign governments (61%), and his relationship with Vladimir Putin (59%).The support is split down party lines, with around 60% of Democrats and 60% of independents supporting investigating Trump’s relationship with Putin, while around 66% of Republicans oppose it.However, support for impeachment has declined in recent months, according to the poll.After Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to perjury and implicated Trump in some of the charges against him, 49% initially said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings.Yet, in the most recent survey, only 40% supported impeachment.The report ascribed this decrease to a decline in the belief that the investigations being led by Robert Mueller will be fair.While a little over 60% of Democrats think Mueller's report will be fair, with slightly more than 30% expressing "just some" confidence, 40% of independents and only 22% of Republicans expressed faith in it.According to a recent Pew poll, 55% of adults are "very" or "somewhat" confident Mueller's investigations will be fair.The timing of Mueller's report is still unknown, as is the question of whether it will be released to the public. Trump’s attorney-general nominee, William P. Barr, told senators this month that he would release a summary of the report, but was not yet sure how much could be released in accordance with government regulations.
The survey, conducted by telephone from January 21-24, consisted of a random sample of 1,001 adults, and has a reported +/-3.5 percentage-point margin of error.
