Even Republicans who don't believe the Trump campaign had ties to Russia want a special prosecutor to investigate it

Russian newspapers report that President Trump won the U.S. election.

(Image credit: YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 8 March 2017

With the House Intelligence Committee poised to hold its first public hearing into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election later this month, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll has found that a majority of Americans want a special prosecutor to look into the Trump campaign's ties to the Kremlin. "While many Republicans do not believe that Russia influenced the 2016 election, they aren't necessarily opposed to investigating the idea," said Morning Consult Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp.

An entire 56 percent of registered voters support the appointment of a special prosecutor. Although just 16 percent of Republicans believe Russia had a hand in the election, 39 percent still support a special prosecutor, just as three in four Democrats do.

The poll was conducted Thursday through Monday, beginning just hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he would recuse himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign. On the question of if Sessions misled the Senate Judiciary Committee when he claimed he had no interactions with the Russian government, 38 percent of voters think Sessions lied, 29 percent said he was truthful, and 32 percent were unsure.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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