Most Americans Think Trump Jr.'s Russian Meeting Was Wrong, Obvious New Poll Says

A majority of Americans say Donald Trump Jr. should not have taken the controversial meeting between himself, President Donald Trump's campaign leaders and Russian representatives.

In a CNN survey of over 1,000 people, nearly 60 percent thought Trump Jr.'s Russia lawyer meeting was a bad idea. However, among respondents who identified as Republicans, only 36 percent said Trump Jr. shouldn't have taken the meeting.

By any measure, Trump Jr.'s decision to accept the meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, after he was enticed by "incriminating" information from the Russian government about Hillary Clinton, appears to have brought more trouble than it was worth.

Although Trump Jr. said no actual information of note was shared during the meeting and called it a waste of time, the fact the meeting was taken in the first place still landed him in hot water.

First, the 39-year-old Trump Organization executive ended up releasing a series of personal emails that revealed the details of how the meeting was arranged.

Then, with that, he put his father, the president, in a position of having to defend Trump Jr. and the campaign after administration officials for months had been denying links to the Russian government's efforts to influence the election.

And then there's the fact that Trump Jr., and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was also at the meeting, will now have to testify about the meeting before Congress.

To say the least, being interrogated by members of the Senate is probably a task they would have wanted to avoid.

Most of all, however, the meeting reignited the whole Trump-Russia narrative, which has increased pressure of Trump Jr.'s family members in the White House.

Jared Kushner, who also attended the meeting, has been under more scrutiny as people now question whether he is a security risk. Meanwhile, President Trump's concern has led him to inquire about whether he can pardon himself and family members, the Washington Post reports.

Considering all the hassle that stemmed from an ultimately unproductive meeting, it's actually surprising only 60 percent of people would say the meeting was a bad idea.