THE PEOPLE ARE ON TO THE WASHINGTON DANCE – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Many years ago I had the chance to interview Charles Kuralt, who did the "On the Road" series for CBS.  I asked him, "Charles, of all the things you've learned in the years you've traveled around the United States, what is the one thing that stands out?"  Without any hesitation, Kuralt answered, "I am always amazed at how well informed Americans are." 

Kuralt was right.  His opinion isn't popular in "intellectual" circles, but was still right.  The average American may not be able to articulate his or her views in the manner of a professor of history, but the average American has a keen sense of what is actually happening.  And tracking polls show that Americans are interested and engaged.

Americans are following the probes in Washington.  From IBD: 

Is Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in trouble? Officially, the answer is no. But the results of a new IBD/TIPP Poll suggest that many Americans are highly skeptical of both Mueller and the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in last year's election.

Mueller was named to be special counsel after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May. Comey was investigating claims that Russia interfered in the U.S. election and that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russian officials.

Since then, Mueller himself has come under fire for hiring a number of prosecutors who donated to Hillary Clinton, which some see as a possible conflict of interest.

"I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters," Trump said on "Fox and Friends" in late June.

Other Republicans, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, echo that sentiment. "The fix is in," Gingrich said in an interview with The Daily Caller. "This is the establishment counterattacking legally when they lost politically."

Moreover, one of the prosecutors that Mueller added to his team, Andrew Rosenstein, previously worked for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whom Trump also fired. And Mueller and Comey, his successor at the FBI, are known to be close friends.

So, in the minds of many, the conflicts in the Mueller investigation are piling up, as the IBD/TIPP data clearly indicate. The IBD/TIPP Poll data were gathered June 23 to June 29.

Perhaps most seriously, among the 614 polled who say they're following the Russia story closely, 49% say that Special Counsel Mueller's friendship with former FBI Director James Comey represents a "conflict of interest for Mueller's investigation." Some 47% disagreed.

The results, no surprise here, skewed sharply according to party affiliation. A majority of Republicans (81%) and Independents (52%) said Mueller had a conflict of interest with his Comey friendship. Just 26% of Democrats agreed.

Meanwhile, even more poll respondents  — including a surprising number of Democrats — felt a conflict existed in the fact that Mueller had interviewed with the White House to replace former FBI chief Comey, who stands at the center of the investigation into Russia's alleged tampering with the 2016 vote and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.

Mueller was no stranger to the job, having held the post from 2001 to 2013, under both President Bush and President Obama. Based on that, it should be no surprise that the White House would want to interview him.

But the IBD/TIPP Poll shows Americans seem bothered by this. Some 52% agreed that Mueller's job interview was a conflict of interest going forward for the investigation, while just 40% disagreed. No surprise that 70% of Republicans and 52% of Independents felt this was a problem. But 41% of Democrats also did.

As for the charge that many of the lawyers hired by Mueller for his team were Hillary Clinton supporters, just 44% agreed that this was a "legitimate concern," while 52% disagreed. But again, Republicans (83%) and Independents (51%) were a majority thinking it was a concern. Just 13% of Democrats did.

COMMENT:  I think the public is right.  The impression of justice is as important as the reality of justice.  The impression of justice here is pretty awful.  Mueller, surprisingly, has shown something of a tin ear.

July 12, 2017