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(Photos of Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images, on the left, Win McNamee / Getty Images)
While the Justice Department's special adviser, Robert Mueller, continues to investigate Russia's involvement in the 2016 elections, Americans' views on his investigation – and how Donald Trump addresses the issue – continue to polarize.
Democrats are no longer expressing any confidence that Trump will properly handle the investigation. And since the beginning of the year, the share of Democrats expressing great confidence in Mueller has increased.
The Republicans, by contrast, have become less confident that Mueller will conduct a fair investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 elections.
Pew Research Center's latest survey of 1,622 adults from September 18 to 23 reveals little change in opinion since June about how Trump conducted Mueller's investigation. A majority (59%) continue to say that they are not overconfident (17%) or that they are not at all confident (42%) in Trump of conducting the survey in such a way appropriate.
Since June, the proportion of adults not trusting Trump for the Mueller survey has increased slightly from 37% to 42%, largely because of a significant increase among Democrats. About seven Democrats out of ten and democratic independents (72%) say they do not trust Trump's ability to deal appropriately with issues related to the special advocates investigation, compared with 59% in June.
In contrast, Republicans and Republican supporters continue to express great trust in Trump: 74% say they are very (34%) or rather (40%) confident in their ability to handle the problem appropriately. These views are about the same as in June.
With respect to the fairness of Mueller's investigation, supporters have moved in opposite directions over the past year.
The proportion of Republicans claiming that they have little or no confidence in Mueller to conduct a fair investigation has gone from 50% last December to 58% today.
Democratic confidence in Mueller has increased over this period – with the share saying that they are very confident in Mueller to conduct a fair investigation going from 37% to 48%.
Overall, 55% of the public is very (30%) or rather (26%) confident in Mueller, while 37% are not too confident (15%) or not at all confident (22%). He will conduct a fair investigation. These attitudes have changed little since December.
While more of the public is expressing confidence in Mueller to conduct a fair investigation than Trump to deal with the issue appropriately, the size of this trust gap varies widely across demographic groups.
Men are 13 percentage points more likely to say that they at least trust Mueller a bit to conduct a fair investigation (55%) than at Trump to deal with the case of appropriately (42%). This gap is much larger among women: 56% say they have at least a little confidence in Mueller's survey, compared with only 32% who think about how Trump deals with it.
In age groups, younger adults are about twice as likely to trust Mueller than Trump. Among people aged 50 and over, the gap is smaller (although Mueller is still more confident than Trump).
Of those with a postgraduate degree, 74% say they are very or fairly confident in conducting a fair survey by Mueller, while only 22% say they trust Trump to handle the issue appropriately. In contrast, people with a high school diploma or less educated are about as likely to trust Trump (44%) as Mueller (47%).
Note: See the full results and methodology here (PDF).
Topics: Federal Government, Political Polarization, US Political Parties
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