Voters Satisfied with Mueller Investigation, Want Mueller and Barr to Testify

Change Research polled 717 likely voters nationwide after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited investigative report yesterday. Voters are satisfied with the Mueller investigation, and conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. They want both Mueller and Attorney General Barr to testify before Congress, but are divided on other next steps from the report.

Voters are satisfied with the investigation.

Overall, voters felt that the investigation was:

• Necessary: 52% say it was an “important investigation into a foreign government’s attempts to interfere with our elections,” while 43% say it was a “politically motivated witch hunt from the start”
• Fair: 58% say the investigation was conducted fairly, only 26% say it was conducted unfairly; 51% say President Trump was treated fairly, 40% say he was treated unfairly
• Impartial: 63% say Mueller was not biased toward either party
• Accurate: 57% say it was an “accurate summary of whether there was coordination between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government”, only 14% say it was an inaccurate summary

Two-thirds of voters (68%) believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

As such, Mueller is the only public figure related to the investigation that is viewed more favorably (39%) than unfavorably (31%).

Voters believe Barr is biased.

Barr is viewed more unfavorably (41%) than favorably (28%). 52% of all voters feel that he is biased toward one of the parties, and 43% feel he is biased specifically toward the Republican party.

However, only slim margins of voters believe that Barr’s actions in the lead-up to the report’s release were incorrect:

• More voters believe that Barr did not provide an accurate summary in his 4-page report (47%) than believe that he did (41%).
• Slightly more voters believe that Barr should not have held a press conference in advance of releasing the report (44%) than agree with his decision to hold the press conference (41%).
• Voters are split on whether Barr redacted crucial information to protect Trump: 44% believe that he did not, while 43% believe that he did.
• 43% of voters think it was wrong for Barr to brief the White House on the report’s findings in advance of its public release, while 37% believe either that it was not wrong for him to do so or that he did not actually do so.

Voters are split on the report’s fallout at the White House.

Almost half of voters (49%) feel that White House Press Secretary Sanders should resign based on the report’s finding that she lied to the press about FBI agents’ opinions of FBI Director Comey. While 26% said that she should not resign due to this finding, a notable 25% said they most agreed with “this didn’t happen.”

The report revealed that, upon the appointment of Mueller, Trump said “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m f***ed.” Voters feel that statement meant:

Voter Sentiment on Trump’s “I’m f***ed” Statement

Voters are divided on the next steps following the report.

61% of voters feel that Mueller should be called to testify before Congress, and 50% feel that Barr should be called to testify. However, voters’ feelings on other next steps from the report are mixed.

When asked which description best summarizes the conclusions of the report, voters responded as follows:

• 42% said the report found that Trump neither colluded with Russia nor obstructed justice.
• 27% said the report found that Trump did not collude, but did obstruct justice.
• 15% said the report did not offer conclusions about either allegation.
• 11% said the report found that Trump both colluded and obstructed justice.
• 5% said the report found that Trump did collude, but did not obstruct justice.

This question revealed clear partisan divides:

Conclusions of Mueller report by political party

44% of voters believe that Trump was exonerated by the report’s findings, while 42% believe that he was not. 53% of voters say that Trump should not be impeached, while 47% say that he should be:

After the Mueller Report: To Impeach or Not To Impeach

While most findings are heavily partisan, most voters agree that DOJ is politicized.

While most of the findings in this poll broke down sharply between Democrats and Republicans, the most unanimous result was that over three-fourths of all voters (76%) agree that the US Department of Justice has become politicized. Republican voters (82%) are in fact more likely than Democratic voters (72%) to agree that the Department is politicized.

Click here for full poll toplines.

Change Research surveyed 717 likely 2020 voters nationwide from April 18-April 19, 2019 following the release of the Mueller report. The survey was conducted online, using Change Research’s Bias Correct Engine. Post-stratification was done on age, gender, ethnicity, and 2016 presidential vote. The margin of error, as traditionally calculated, is ± 3.7%.

This “breaking news poll” is one of over 100 polls Change Research will be conducting this year as part of our 2020 Change polling subscription product. Most will be available to subscribers only. Please contact us for more information.