Only Republican group that considers Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt": NPR



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President Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House for California in November.

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President Trump addresses reporters before leaving the White House for California in November

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President Trump continues to protest against Special Advocate Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and on a possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Trump has, for example, used the words "witch hunt" in tweets almost a dozen times in the month since polling day.

This sentence seems to have stuck to its base, according to a new NPR / PBS NewsHour / Marist poll. but not with others beyond. Seven out of ten Republicans agree with him, while a majority of independents and four out of five Democrats consider the survey to be "fair".

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"The base is solidified, but it does not give you more than that," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute of Public Opinion, who conducted the poll .

Polarized views on the special advocate persist amidst a recent burst of developments in the investigation of Russia after the relative calm around the mid-term. In federal courts on Friday, the Mueller team is expected to detail how former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has violated his plea agreement and made sentencing recommendations for Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who admitted last week that he was lying to Congress.

In the survey, for the first time, more Americans reported seeing Mueller more negative than positive, 29% favorable, 33% unfavorable. This is a net decrease of 7 points over the summer, when Mueller was 33% positive and 30% negative.

Mueller's drop is fueled by Republicans – 58% did not see it in the last poll, versus 46% before. in July. (Only 8% have a favorable opinion of him, against 15% in July.)

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(The slight increase recorded in March 2018 in the above chart follows several events that occurred during the investigation into the Mueller case at the end of February. They included financial charges against Manafort and a guilty plea from Manafort's former trading partner, Rick Gates.

However, the general move on Mueller's views lies within the margin of error and, perhaps more remarkable, the former FBI director remains ill-known or poorly defined.In spite of Trump's deadly attacks, the majority of Americans (39%) continue to say that they are unsure of their feelings about Mueller or have never heard of him.