--- title: Donald Trump Russia Probe: Americans Want Special Prosecutor description: Most Americans want a special prosecutor to investigate contacts that Trump officials had with Russian officials, according to a new poll canonical: https://time.com/4691594/donald-trump-russia-poll/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-06T12:52:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:40:24.689Z article:section: Politics og:title: Americans Want a Special Prosecutor to Probe Russia and the Election og:description: According to a new poll og:url: https://time.com/4691594/donald-trump-russia-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1e465922076603/6988bd14196cf401b003f1e1/gettyimages-648403304.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump at the White House in Washington, DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Want a Special Prosecutor to Probe Russia and the Election twitter:description: According to a new poll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1e465922076603/6988bd14196cf401b003f1e1/gettyimages-648403304.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Americans Want a Special Prosecutor to Probe Russia and the 2016 Election by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 6, 2017 12:52 PM UTC  President Donald J. Trump waves as he walks across the South Lawn towards the White House on March 5, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald J. Trump waves as he walks across the South Lawn towards the White House on March 5, 2017 in Washington, DC.Erik S. Lesser-Pool—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 6, 2017 12:52 PM UTC Most Americans want a special prosecutor to [investigate](http://time.com/4689960/jeff-sessions-russia-recuse-donald-trump/) contacts that officials on President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4691425/donald-trump-russia-obama-fbi/)‘s campaign made with [Russian officials](http://time.com/4689901/the-russia-saga-is-not-over-yet/), according to a new poll. [The CNN/ORC survey](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/trump-approval-rating-russia-poll/index.html) released Monday showed that about two-thirds of Americans think a special prosecutor should be appointed to conduct the inquiry, while 32% say Congress can conduct a sufficient investigation. More than half of those surveyed are at least somewhat concerned about contacts between the President’s campaign and Russia, a controversy that has lingered during the early weeks of Trump’s administration. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced he would [recuse himself from investigations](http://time.com/4689877/recuses-meaning-jeff-sessions-donald-trump/) into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia, after revelations that he failed to disclose contacts with Russia’s ambassador during his confirmation hearings. At least 70%, including 47% of Republicans, at least somewhat agreed with the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia sought to influence the outcome of the election. But the poll also indicated that the steady stream of news reports about contacts with Russia have not had a major impact on the Trump’s approval rating. Some 45% of Americans approve of the job President Trump is doing. The survey of 1,025 people conducted March 1-4, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4691594/donald-trump-russia-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4691594/donald-trump-russia-poll/"},"headline":"Most Americans Want a Special Prosecutor to Probe Russia and the 2016 Election","datePublished":"2017-03-06T12:52:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:40:24.689Z","description":"According to a new poll","url":"https://time.com/4691594/donald-trump-russia-poll/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime","president trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1e465922076603/6988bd14196cf401b003f1e1/gettyimages-648403304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1e465922076603/6988bd14196cf401b003f1e1/gettyimages-648403304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump at the White House in Washington, DC","caption":"President Trump at the White House in Washington, DC","creditText":"Erik S. 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