NEW YORK: A slim majority of Americans favor an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with the Russian government, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that showed public views about the controversy driving congressional investigations are sharply divided along party lines.
Amid questions swirling in Washington that have forced the resignation of one top Trump official and the scrutiny of several others, most Americans say they’re at least somewhat concerned about the possibility that the GOP businessman’s campaign had inappropriate contacts with the Russian government, but less than half say they’re very concerned.
More than three-quarters of Democrats favor an independent investigation into Trump’s Russian ties while only one-quarter of Republicans do. Overall, 52 percent of Americans favor such a probe, while 23 percent are opposed. Another 22 percent say they neither favor nor oppose an investigation. Asked if they favor an independent investigation into the issue of Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 campaign, Americans broke along similar margins.
“Russia has always been an enemy of the United States and of democracy across the world. Our politicians have no business making secret deals with them,” said John Dodd, 68, who runs a bowling alley in Big Spring, Texas. “... For our country’s sake, I hope it leads to nowhere. But I am afraid it does.”
The president has steadfastly denied any inappropriate links to Russia.
According to the poll, 44 percent of Americans say they’re very or extremely concerned that Trump or others involved in his campaign had inappropriate contacts with the Russian government. Another 18 percent say they’re somewhat concerned, and 36 percent say they’re not very concerned or not concerned at all.
“The election was tampered with — the Russians stole it for Trump,” said Lamar Walker, 47, a Democrat from LaGrange, Ga. “This man now has the nuclear war codes. But all he cares about is the wall, the Mexicans and going golfing.”
But Republicans have a sharply different view.
“They are just kicking up dust. It’s obstruction. It’s just another way to try to block this president,” said Edward Vazquez, a 46-year-old Republican who works as an engineer in Odessa, Texas.
Among Republicans, an overwhelming 76 percent feel that the media has been too critical of Trump. Democrats are split — 45 percent think the media has been mostly fair, while another 38 percent think the media has not been critical enough.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.