Poll: On Russia, Americans trust Mueller probe over Trump

WASHINGTON – When it comes to Russia, Americans have more trust in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation than they do in President Donald Trump’s denials of collusion, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

By wide margins, those surveyed are convinced that Russians meddled in the 2016 presidential election and that they will try it again. More than 4 in 10 believe Moscow’s interference affected the outcome of the election that put Trump in the White House.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken after Mueller’s team indicted 13 Russians and three companies on criminal charges, spotlights the potential perils ahead for the president if he ends up in a showdown with the special counsel. A 58 percent majority say they have a lot of or some trust in Mueller’s investigation, while a 57 percent majority say they have little or no trust in Trump’s denials.

“I think he’s doing a heck of a job,” John Shaw, 60, of Madison, Wisconsin, said of Mueller. “He’s not leaking anything. He’s going piece by piece, methodically putting this whole thing together.”

Lauryne Haynes, a retiree from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who also was called in the survey, puts her faith in the president.

“I think that Trump had nothing to do with Russian meddling,” she said in a follow-up interview. “He understands the situation that they are not our friends. I think he’s truthful, and I think he’s sincere about wanting the best for the country.”

The poll, taken by landline and cellphone Tuesday through Saturday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Three in 4 of those surveyed, 75 percent, say they take the charges filed by Mueller seriously; most say they take them “very” seriously. Just 1 in 5, 20 percent, dismisses them.