But opinions are largely split on whether special counsel’s probe has been handled fairly
The investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election and potential coordination with now-President Donald Trump’s campaign has largely divided public opinion. But on one pivotal question from a new Morning Consult/Politico survey, a slim majority of voters are in agreement: It is likely that the Kremlin has damaging “kompromat” on the U.S. president.
The Dec. 7-10 survey of 1,997 registered voters found 51 percent think it’s likely that Russia has compromising information on Trump, including 83 percent of Democrats, 48 percent of independents and 22 percent of Republicans. Thirty-two percent, including 62 percent of Republican voters and 28 percent of independents, said it was unlikely.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has been a staple of the news cycle since Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed him to conduct the investigation in May 2017, and Morning Consult polling over several months has found voters’ level of support for Trump often serving as the dividing line for evaluations of the probe.
That was the case again in the latest survey, with voters nearly split, 35 percent versus 39 percent, on whether the Mueller investigation has been handled fairly. Three in 5 voters who cast their ballots for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 said the inquiry was being handled fairly, compared with 59 percent of Trump voters who disagreed.
And as the president has insisted throughout his first term in office that there was no collusion between members of his campaign and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, partisan camps were equally entrenched on the question: Seventy-nine percent of Clinton voters said they believe Trump’s campaign worked with Russia to influence the outcome of the presidential election, versus 77 percent of Trump voters who said he didn’t.
