Majority Of Americans Want Special Prosecutor For Trump-Russia Investigation

As the White House continues to issue denials, Donald Trump spins wild conspiracy theories on Twitter, and Congressional Republicans drag their feet on a real investigation, a new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans want to see a special prosecutor appointed to look into the connections between Trump, his campaign, and Russia.

A new CNN/ORC poll has 65 percent of Americans surveyed supporting the appointment of a special prosecutor while 32 percent believe Congress can handle the matter.

When broken down by party affiliation, only 43 percent of Republicans support a special prosecutor, but 82 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of independents say they favor a special prosecutor, who would have to be appointed by the Justice Department.

A closer look at the poll reveals that 55 percent of those surveyed say they are concerned by reports that Trump campaign officials had contact with Russia during the 2016 race for the White House. 71 percent of Democrats say they are “very concerned” about the reports of collusion with Russia and 54 percent of Republicans say they have no concerns “at all” about them.

34 percent of Americans think Russia is a “very serious” threat to the United States.

The poll also reports that Trump’s current approval rating stands at 45 percent. His favorability rating is also at 45 percent. Mike Pence is at 47 percent favorability.

Should the Trump-Russia continue to cause distractions and controversy for the Trump administration, it could well harm chances for any significant progress on other issues during the so-called president’s first 100 days.

But the bottom line remains the same: Trump staffers–Flynn, Kushner, Sessions–did have contact with Russian officials in the person of the Russian ambassador to the United States during the 2016 race. It stretches credulity to believe Trump had no knowledge of these meetings, and for all we know Trump also met with Russians who wanted to help him win the election.

If the Trump team wants to see this issue disappear from the front page, they should welcome a special prosecutor and independent investigation. The more they stonewall, the more voters will believe they have something to hide.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org

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