Witch one’s right
Half of Americans share President Trump’s view that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian investigation is a “witch hunt,” according to a poll released on Monday.
The USA Today/Suffolk University survey found that 50 percent of those questioned agree that the probe is a politically motivated “witch hunt,” while 47 percent disagree.
Another 3 percent said they were undecided.
Asked about whether the Democratic-controlled House should seriously begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, 62 percent said no, 28 percent said yes and 10 percent were undecided.
Trump touted the poll’s results on Twitter.
“Wow! A Suffolk/USA Today Poll, just out, states, ‘50% of Americans AGREE that Robert Mueller’s investigation is a Witch Hunt.’ @MSNBC Very few think it is legit! We will soon find out?” Trump said.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Re- search Center, said the poll shows that Trump has successfully persuaded Americans to adopt his view of Mueller’s investigation.
“Even among people who said they had ‘some’ trust in the Mueller investigation, half agreed with President Trump’s ‘witch hunt’ allegation,” Paleologos said.
As usual, there was a significant partisan divide, with 86 percent of Republicans agreeing Trump is the victim of a “witch hunt,” but only 14 percent of Democrats.
Among independents, the figure was 54 percent.
Questioned about whether they thought Mueller’s probe would be fair and accurate, 55 percent of voters said they have “a lot” or “some” trust in the investigation and 36 percent said they have “little or no trust.”
But 82 percent agreed that it is “very” or “somewhat important” that the Justice Department release Mueller’s final report to the public.
When asked about whether Trump or his campaign associates colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election, 52 per- cent said they had “little or no trust” in Trump’s denials, while 43 percent said they had “a lot” or “some” trust in them.
Americans were also torn about the investigations of the president launched in the House by Democrats after they won a majority in the November midterm elections.
While 49 percent said Democrats were “doing the right thing,” 46 percent said they were “going too far.”
The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters between March 13 and 17. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.