NBC/WSJ Poll: Russian Influence Needs Independent Inquiry
A new poll finds a strong majority favor an independent investigation into Russia's interference with the U.S. elections and possible ties to the Donald Trump campaign.
That is according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Asked whether Congress or a special prosecutor/independent commission should be investigating, 78% picked an independent inquiry, while only 15% picked Congress. The question did not include the FBI investigation among the choices.
A majority (65%) said they had either a great deal of confidence (25%) or some confidence (45%) in the FBI's investigation, but only 40% said the same about Congress.
Of the people who have an opinion on President Donald Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey, a majority disapprove, with not quite half (46%) agreeing with the statement that Comey was fired to slow the FBI investigation into the election.
The poll found that 38% disapproved, while 29% approved—32% said they had no opinion.
Of those who have been paying close attention to the issue, 53% said they disapproved while 33% said they approved.
Broken out by party, only 58% of Republicans approve of the firing, while 66% of Democrats disapprove.
The poll was conducted by phone May 11-13 among 800 adults. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
A majority of the respondents (52%) have a negative view of the President, while 38% have a positive view, essentially unchanged from the poll's findings a month before.
President Trump has alternately said he wanted to get to the bottom of the possible Russian interference and called such an investigation a "witch hunt" and "taxpayer-funded charade."