Half of American Voters Believe Trump Colluded With Russia

Nearly half of the American voters surveyed in a new opinion poll say they believe that Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign colluded with Russia.

This result came even though Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the special counsel’s investigation appeared to conclude that there was no evidence to support that finding, or at least to support criminal charges.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey released early Wednesday found that over 48 percent of respondents believe that the president “or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election.”

Barr’s letter did have some impact, however, since the number was down 6 points from the previous week’s poll.

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A Majority of Voters Think Trump Tried to Interfere in the Russia Probe

The poll also found that fifty-three percent of voters believe that “Trump tried to stop investigations into Russian influence on his administration.”

According to Reuters:

“U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of Mueller’s investigation did little to change public opinion about the president’s alleged ties to Russia or quench the public’s appetite to learn more.”

Since release of Barr’s letter Democrats have called on Barr to release the full Mueller report, which is “a position shared by a majority of poll respondents.”

Yesterday a new Politico/Morning Consult poll showed results similar to Reuters.

In that poll,  47 percent of participants said they believe that Trump “tried to impede or obstruct the Mueller investigation.”

The poll also showed that 21 percent said they believe that Robert Mueller’s team “found evidence that President Trump or his campaign conspired with Russia to influence the results of the 2016 election.”

Just 9 percent of American voters participating told Reuters/Ipsos that Barr’s summary on Mueller’s investigation had changed their minds, but 57 percent said they want to see the full Mueller report released.

Little Impact on Trump’s Favorability

“As the Mueller report conclusion reverberates broadly, our polling suggests that the release of the summary findings has had little impact on President Trump’s favorability,” said Morning Consult pollster Tyler Sinclair.

Yesterday we reported another poll which showed that 84% of Americans want Trump to release the full Mueller report to the public.

The poll results show that the majority of American voters have not been fooled by Donald Trump’s lies, and are not buying into William Barr’s biased conclusions. Americans know Donald Trump is guilty of collusion and other crimes. It is possible, however, that the day of reckoning for the president may be delayed — until the 2020 election when he will be thrown out of office in one of the biggest landslides in American history.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.