Trump voters talk Russia probe and the progress president has made
Almost half a year into his presidency, voters who cast their ballots for President Trump are calling him "honest," "determined," "effective," "true," "productive," "authentic" and "a tough S.O.B."
Though the president's approval rating is stuck near a record low, many of his supporters are sticking by him.
Republican strategist and CBS News contributor Frank Luntz spoke with a group of Trump supporters -- 13 men and seven women, ranging in age from 20 to 63. All of them voted for Mr. Trump in November, and their opinions of the president today range from somewhat unfavorable to extremely favorable.
Mr. Trump said the investigation into Russia's influence in the 2016 election is not interfering with his agenda. He tweeted Sunday: "The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt."
"Did the Russians intervene in this election?" Luntz asked the group.
"No, I mean, they didn't get into the voting machines and change votes. It wouldn't have made any difference one way or the other. Now, did they try to hack the election? We found out from the leaker – that woman, that yes, they did. But they weren't successful," one woman said.
"Should we be investigating this?" Luntz asked.
"It's already been investigated," a man responded.
"So you think we're done. There's nothing more to learn?" Luntz asked.
"Why not learn more. But don't do it for the purpose of overturning an election. Do it for the purpose of learning how we can put walls up, how we can keep security," one woman said.
"If the Russians affected the election, then that means they changed the minds of the American people. And that's not what happened," a man responded.
"The whole purpose of this is to have an investigation to see if there's specifics. Do you want to shut that investigation down?" Luntz asked.
"I do. Because it's a giant, huge waste of time," a man responded. "If there's an investigation into this whole Russian thing, then it needs to be on, 'well, they physically went into our machines, hacked our machines, this whole hacking thing, and actually changed the election results.' People read fake stuff on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all day. Anybody could put that up. I could put it up. You could put it up."
Asked whether it's appropriate for a president to tweet as Mr. Trump does, the group's responses varied.
"It could be better," one man said.
Another agreed. "It could be better. He needs to tone down the language a little bit. But the bottom line is it's his way to get the message out," another man said.
"I would argue that Donald Trump shouldn't tone it down. This brash brand that he has is what got him elected," one man said.
"You know, I'm so tired of people beatin' on Donald Trump. Donald Trump made us promises. He kept them. And that's the type of new leadership that we need," one man interjected.
"And what has he accomplished?" Luntz asked.
"He's done more in the last hundred days than President Obama done in the last eight years," he responded.
"Such as?"
"Such as keepin' his promises," he said.
"I wanna know what promises he kept," Luntz said.
"One promise I can say that he did keep is he elected a conservative to the Supreme Court," the man responded. "And you know what, that's the best promise that he's kept so far."
"By this point George W. Bush already had his tax cut done," Luntz pointed out.
"Trump is not getting much help from Congress. He is not getting a lot of help," one man said.
"It's a Republican Congress," Luntz countered.
"He talks about draining the swamp. And I think what we're finding real quick in the first 100 days is the swamp is not just the Democrats," a man said.
"There's more fighting among the Republicans than there is between the Republicans and Democrats on his agenda. And if they don't get it figured out, 2018's gonna be ugly for the Republican's," another man said.
"Let's say he doesn't get health care. Let's say he doesn't get tax reform. Let's say he doesn't get the investment in infrastructure. Those are three key commitments that he made. Who here would consider not voting for him in that situation? Raise your hands," Luntz said.
About half the room raised their hands.
"So you're voting for him no matter what?" Luntz asked.
"Absolutely," one woman said.
"No matter what he does. No matter what he says," Luntz said.
"Absolutely."
Some of his supporters also had messages for Mr. Trump:
"Listen to your Cabinet, and Democrats aren't your enemies," one man said.
"Stay focused on the big picture issues and get that legislative agenda passed through on the economy. And things'll get a lot better," another said.
"Remember what got you to the office. Remember the people, the promises. We're results-oriented. We have to be in this critical stage of our country," one said.
