Donald Trump has waged a campaign against the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election (and his collusion in that). He has repeatedly called it fake news, and has attempted to stop the investigation. Now he is trying to get his Republican colleagues to demonize special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

But his efforts are failing. The public (except for Trump's base) think the investigation is a serious matter, and they prefer the way Mueller is handling it to how Trump is handling it.

They also believe Trump is lying when he makes remarks denigrating the investigation -- and that is true of every group.

These charts show the results of a new CNN / SSRS Poll -- done between December 14th and 17th of a random national sample of 1,001 adults, with a 3.6 point margin of error.