Poll: Majority disapprove of Trump’s handling of Russia probe

A majority of Americans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a CNN poll released Thursday found. 

The poll, conducted Dec. 14-17, showed 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of it, while 32 percent approve.

Multiple congressional committees are conducting separate investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 election.

{mosads}Special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a criminal investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. His probe has thus far yielded two indictments and two guilty pleas. 

The responses in the poll were largely split along party lines, with 63 percent of Republicans approving of Trump’s handling of the investigation, compared to just 12 percent of Democrats.

The same poll found higher approval ratings for Mueller’s handling of the investigation, with 47 percent of Americans giving the special counsel positive marks. Thirty-four percent disapprove of Mueller’s handling of the probe. 

Republicans have in recent weeks pushed claims of bias within Mueller’s probe, pointing to anti-Trump text messages sent by an FBI agent who was fired from Mueller’s team over the summer.

Trump said recently he is not considering firing the special counsel, but has called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and has insisted there was no collusion.

He has at times cast doubt on whether he agrees with the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election.

A majority of Americans said they believe the things Trump has said publicly about Russian interference are false, while just 35 percent think his comments are true, according to the poll.

The responses were again divided along party lines, with 73 percent of Republicans finding his statements true, compared to just 9 percent of Democrats.

The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.