Poll: Most Republicans believe FBI, Justice Dept. trying to 'delegitimize' Trump
NEW YORK - Nearly three out of four Republicans believe the FBI and Justice Department are trying to undermine US President Donald Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, a sharp turn for a party that has historically been a strong backer of law enforcement agencies.
Overall, most of the public still believes that Trump or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 US presidential election, allegations that Moscow and Trump have repeatedly denied.
The Feb. 3-5 poll found that Americans were sharply divided along party lines over a federal investigation into potential ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, a controversy that has hung over his year-old presidency.
Some 73 percent of Republicans agreed that "members of the FBI and Department of Justice are working to delegitimize Trump through politically motivated investigations."
But three in four Democrats said they believed a competing narrative that "members of the Republican Party and the White House are working to delegitimize the FBI and DOJ in the investigation of Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election."
