Only 22 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Attorney General William Barr — fewer than the 34 percent who view him unfavorably. | Win McNamee/Getty Images POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL Poll: Little support for Barr’s handling of Mueller report

Amid Attorney General William Barr's escalating clash with Congress, a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows few voters are praising him for how he has handled the release of the Mueller report.

But while many voters disapprove of Barr’s handling of the report, there’s little sign of the kind of widespread antipathy that would lend public support to congressional Democrats who are considering holding the attorney general in contempt for not providing information and testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.


Fewer than 3 in 10 voters, 29 percent, approve of the way Barr has handled the release of the report, the poll shows. But disapproval of Barr is at just 39 percent — with nearly a third of voters, 32 percent, expressing no opinion.

Despite the revelation that special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Barr after the attorney general released a four-page memo on his report‘s conclusions — which did not conclude that President Donald Trump criminally conspired with the Russian government to affect the 2016 presidential election — Barr’s approval rating concerning the Mueller report is essentially unchanged over the past two weeks. In mid-April, after a redacted version of the 448-page report was released, 30 percent of voters approved of Barr’s handling of the issue, and 37 percent of them disapproved.

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While Democrats have criticized Barr, saying he protected Trump at the end of the Mueller investigation, voters overall are shrugging off those charges. Asked whether Barr’s primary goal in releasing information from the investigation was to inform the public of Mueller’s findings or to limit scrutiny of Trump’s actions, voters split: 35 percent said Barr has mostly worked to protect Trump, and 32 percent said Barr has mostly tried to inform the American people; 32 percent were undecided.

The results fell largely along party lines, though a significant share of voters, including partisans, don’t have an opinion. Democrats said, 58 percent to 14 percent, that Barr has mostly acted to protect Trump. Republicans, meanwhile, said, 56 percent to 15 percent, that Barr has mostly tried to inform the public. Independents are split: 28 percent said Barr has mostly helped Trump, 31 percent said he has worked to inform the public and 42 percent don’t know.

Until the Mueller report was released, Barr had been largely out of the public eye since a previous stint as attorney general in George H.W. Bush’s administration. But his public profile is growing, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows.

Only 22 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of Barr — fewer than the 34 percent who view him unfavorably. But a combined 44 percent have no opinion of the attorney general or haven’t heard of him at all, according to the poll.

Barr’s favorability rating is up 2 percentage points from two weeks ago, according to the poll, while his unfavorability rating is up 4 points. Most of that movement comes from Democratic voters, said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president.

“Democratic voters are more likely to view Attorney General William Barr unfavorably in the aftermath of his contentious battle with congressional Democrats,” Sinclair said. “Two weeks ago, before his Senate Judiciary [Committee] hearing, 44 percent of Democrats had an unfavorable opinion of Barr, compared with 54 percent who said the same in this week’s poll.”

As Democrats in Congress mull their next move, a plurality of voters, 46 percent, think Trump tried to impede or obstruct the investigation into whether his campaign had ties to Russia’s election interference — more than the 37 percent who believe Trump did not try to obstruct the investigation.

Trump’s approval rating in the new poll is 43 percent, statistically unchanged from 42 percent last week — but up from 39 percent two weeks ago. A majority of voters, 52 percent, disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted May 3-6, surveying 1,990 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents: Toplines: https://politi.co/302dnE5 | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2H3Ntap