Poll: 60 percent have some confidence in fairness of Mueller probe

About six in 10 Americans have at least some confidence in the impartiality of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to a new poll from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 

The poll found that 62 percent of respondents have some level of confidence in Mueller’s investigation, with 33 percent saying they were very confident. Thirty-seven percent said they were not very or not at all confident in the investigation’s fairness.

Confidence in the probe broke down largely along partisan lines.

{mosads}Fifty-four percent of Republicans polled said they have little to no confidence in the investigation’s fairness, with only 18 percent saying they were very confident and 28 percent saying they were moderately confident.

Meanwhile, around 80 percent of Democratic respondents said they had some level of confidence in the probe, according to the poll.

The poll follows a series of surveys that paint a conflicting picture of Americans’ confidence in the probe. A USA Today-Suffolk poll released Monday showed half of respondents agreed with Trump’s characterization of the investigation as a “witch hunt,” prompting Trump to tweet the findings.

However, a Hill-HarrisX poll released the same day found 57 percent of respondents said they trusted Mueller and Democrats, compared to 43 percent who said they didn’t trust either.

The AP-NORC poll found 45 percent of respondents were extremely or very concerned that the Trump campaign had inappropriate contacts with Russia and another 18 percent were moderately concerned.

About one in three respondents said Trump has done something illegal in relation to Russia, compared to about two-thirds of Democrats and about 10 percent of Republicans. However, 37 percent of Republican respondents think Trump has done something unethical in relation to Russia, according to the poll.

The poll was conducted March 14-18 among 1,063 adults, with a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.