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

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.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The poll surveyed 1,992 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 points.