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Poll: 73% Back Independent Probe of Russian Election Interference

A combined 61 percent of Americans say they have little to no confidence in Congress conducting a fair and impartial investigation
Image: Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 5, 2017.Pavel Golovkin / Pool via AP

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they want an independent, non-partisan commission instead of Congress to investigate Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Seventy-three percent of respondents prefer the independent investigation, versus 16 percent who pick Congress.

Still, a majority of Americans — 54 percent — believe that Congress should investigate whether there was contact between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, which is essentially unchanged from February's NBC/WSJ poll.

That includes 84 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents who want to see this congressional investigation, but just 21 percent of Republican respondents who want it.

Yet a combined 61 percent of Americans say they have little to no confidence in Congress conducting a fair and impartial investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election.

Only a combined 39 percent say they have "some" or a "great deal" of confidence in Congress conducting a fair and impartial investigation.

These numbers come as committees in both the House and Senate are looking into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. But the House investigation erupted in controversy after House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, R-Calif., suggested that Trump and his associates may have been monitored by U.S. intelligence officials during the transition.

Nunes stepped aside from the investigation earlier this month.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted April 17-20 of 900 adults, including more than 400 who were reached via cell phone. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.3 percentage points.