The Mueller Report Really Didn't Change Much At All: Poll | HuffPost Latest News - Action News
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Posted: 2019-04-22T20:26:20Z | Updated: 2019-04-22T20:26:20Z

The Mueller report has bolstered President Donald Trump s critics in their conviction that the president committed wrongdoing, but has otherwise done little to jostle deeply polarized public opinion, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll suggests.

The survey was conducted immediately following the release last Thursday of special counsel Robert Mueller s redacted report on the Trump campaigns relationship with Russia. The report did not find coordination between Trumps campaign and Russian officials to influence the 2016 election, and Mueller declined to determine whether the president had obstructed justice because the special counsel apparently didnt believe it was his job to do so. But the report clearly laid out several instances in which Trump attempted to undermine the Russia investigation and didnt succeed only because his staffers refused to carry out his orders.

If the report is something less than the clear-cut condemnation many of Trumps opponents believe is warranted , and falls far short of the complete exoneration that the presidents allies have claimed it to be , that is reflected in the polling. Views of Trumps behavior are, reliably, more negative than positive, but Americans remain divided over what to make of the reports findings, with a substantial minority still unclear on what to think.

By a 10-point margin, 45% to 35% percent, people whove heard at least something about the reports release say it does not entirely clear Trump. Another 20% arent sure.

Thirty-one percent whove heard at least something about the report say the information contained shows Trump is unfit to be president, with 18% calling it damaging but not disqualifying, and 31% saying it reveals nothing damaging.

What people make of the report, for the most part, tends to coincide neatly with their pre-existing political views. Only 1% of Trump voters say they think the report shows that Trump is unfit for the presidency, while only 2% of Hillary Clinton voters say they dont find it at all damaging.

Heres a one-sentence summary of the Mueller reports findings, as offered by a Clinton voter whose news sources included MSNBC: Not enough evidence to show conspiracy with Russia; plenty of evidence to suggest obstruction of justice, but that is Congresss call.

From a Trump voter, whose sources included Fox News: President did not collude and there isnt enough evidence to prove he obstructed, just was upset by it.

And from a non-voter, who followed the story mostly online: All government sucks no matter who they are or where they are from.

Americans as a whole say, 43% to 34%, that they believe Trump attempted to obstruct Muellers investigation, with the rest unsure. By a 5-point margin, 40% to 35%, the public wants Congress to hold further hearings rather than ending the investigation. (Responses to this question, its worth noting, appear particularly susceptible to differences in wording last month , one poll found Americans broadly in favor of future investigations, another found them broadly in favor of moving on to other issues, and a third showed a roughly even split between those positions.)