Politics

Poll: Majority Of Voters Don’t Think Trump Colluded With Russians

REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
Font Size:

The Democratic Party is focusing on the allegation that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government, and a poll out Wednesday shows that a majority of voters don’t buy this.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House before his departure to Louisville, Kentucky, in Washington U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House before his departure to Louisville, Kentucky, in Washington U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

FBI Director James Comey waits before testifying at a House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

FBI Director James Comey waits before testifying at a House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The Harvard-Harris poll results released by The Hill show that 54 percent of registered voters don’t think members of the Trump team colluded with the Russian government during the presidential campaign. The poll of 2,092 voters was conducted between March 14 and March 16, before FBI Director James Comey announced the FBI is investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The poll also found that voters overall do not believe that former President Obama ordered a wiretap of President Trump during the campaign, while a majority of Republicans believe the charge.

President Trump brought up the wiretapping claim in early March, without evidence. He continues to stand by the allegation, and has said he meant general surveillance conducted on him, not wiretapping specifically. Comey said Monday that “no information” supports Trump’s wiretapping tweets.

Sixty-six percent of voters don’t believe that Obama ordered a wiretap of President Trump. Eighty-three percent of Democrats think the same, while 59 percent of Republicans stand behind Trump’s claims of surveillance.

The poll also asked registered voters about whether they think holdovers from the Obama administration are leaking information and what their opinion of James Comey is.

It found that just 17 percent of voters have a favorable view of the FBI director, while 35 percent hold a negative view of him. Democrats view Comey less favorably than Republican voters. Forty-one percent of Democrats have a negative view of Comey, while 27 percent of Republicans think likewise.

“Comey’s ratings, which are two-to-one negative, suggest a crisis of confidence in his leadership as top law enforcement officer,” Harvard-Harris poll co-director Mark Penn said.

Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy suggested Monday that Obama administration officials were involved with the leaking of classified information to the press, and 55 percent of voters disagree with this view, according to the Harvard poll. Seventy-three percent of Republicans, however, do agree with the claim of an Obama “deep-state” being behind the leaks.