Since Robert Mueller was named special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation, Donald Trump and his Republican loyalists in Congress have sought to undermine him.
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According to a new poll, those efforts appear to be crumbling as America has more faith in Mueller than they do Trump when it comes to handling the Russia investigation.
The survey, conducted by CNN, found that 48 percent of Americans approve of Mueller’s handling of the Russia investigation. Just 32 percent say the same of Trump.
The poll also found that his approval rating among Republican respondents is worst when it comes to the Russia investigation than any other issue.
More from CNN:
Trump’s approval rating on handling the investigation is worse than his ratings for other issues, and that’s true even among his own partisans. Overall, 61% of Republicans approve of his handling of the investigation, compared with ratings above 70% for each other issue measured in the survey.
One possible reason for Trump’s low marks: Most Americans say the president isn’t doing enough to cooperate with the investigation (55% say so), while just 40% think he is doing enough to cooperate. Among Republicans, 77% see Trump’s cooperation as sufficient, but that dips to just 42% of independents and 6% of Democrats.
Trump, GOP smear campaign hasn’t moved the needle
As Trump continues to desperately fire off tweets and Republicans in Congress wage war on Mueller and the FBI, the numbers haven’t budged – and that’s bad news for the White House.
As CNN noted, “[N]either views of Trump’s handling of the probe nor those of Mueller’s work have budged since February.”
In other words, America isn’t taking the president’s word that this is a hoax or a witch hunt. They also aren’t buying the Republican sales job that the real scandal involves the FBI or the special counsel.
Instead, they want Mueller to get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 election and whether the president’s campaign – or the president himself – is guilty of any crimes.
Donald Trump’s only hope of political survival is to discredit Robert Mueller before his investigation charges him with any criminal wrongdoing. Unfortunately for him, that’s failing miserably, as the polling shows.
If and when the special counsel probe nails Trump to the wall, the public will likely find the findings credible. That should have the president shaking in his boots as the evidence against him continues to piles up.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
