Former President Donald Trump is currently facing his first criminal trial, which began on Monday and is in the process of selecting a jury. According to the latest poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, this criminal trial against Trump is the least approved by the American public compared to three other criminal trials against him.
Only about one-third of American adults believe Trump (also known as Trump) has broken the law in the hush money case. In contrast, fewer than half of the respondents believe he did something illegal in the other three pending criminal cases against him.
Furthermore, respondents have serious doubts about Trump receiving fair treatment from prosecutors in this case or the judges and jurors being impartial when it comes to cases involving him.
However, if Trump is convicted for falsifying business records to conceal payments to a woman claiming to have had a sexual relationship with him, half of Americans may deem him unsuitable to serve as president.
The poll indicates that a conviction could harm Trump’s chances of running for office. Trump, a former president, is set to face off against current President Biden once again. He is the first major party presumptive nominee to be indicted and the first former president to be indicted. The verdict in the hush money case is expected to come approximately six weeks from now, before the Republican National Convention, where he will receive the Republican nomination.
Currently, Trump’s campaign team’s main focus is on attacking the trial against him, accusing Democrats led by Biden of orchestrating these cases. A conviction is likely to sway many Americans, including independent voters and those who have long been skeptical of Trump, in their views on his candidacy.
Callum Schlumpf, a 31-year-old engineering student and independent political activist from Clifton, Texas, stated, “Any conviction should disqualify him, as it would leave a bad impression on other countries about our nation’s morals and values.”
Clouds of doubt shroud the entire proceedings. Only about 3 in 10 Americans believe that the prosecutors who brought charges against Trump treated the former president fairly, while about 2 in 10 have very or extremely high confidence in the judges and jurors handling his cases fairly.
Christopher Ruff, a 46-year-old independent political figure and museum curator from Sanford, North Carolina, said, “I am definitely not a Trump supporter; I didn’t vote for him, and I won’t in the future, but this is clearly political persecution with apparent political motivations behind it.”
The new AP-NORC poll aligns with surveys conducted over the past year, revealing that about half of Americans believe Trump did something illegal in the incident where confidential documents were found in his Florida home and a similar proportion think he may have interfered in the Georgia election vote count during the 2020 presidential election. The poll also found that nearly half of Americans think Trump did something illegal in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Prosecutors in New York have charged Trump with falsifying internal records of his company to disguise the nature of payments made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen claimed he was directed by Trump to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 a month before the 2016 election to silence her claims of an extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges and denied any sexual contact with Daniels. The poll found that 35% of Americans believe Trump engaged in illegal behavior regarding the hush money allegations, while slightly fewer, around 3 in 10, think he did something unethical but not illegal, and 14% think he did nothing wrong. These numbers have not significantly changed over the past year since he was first accused.
Compared to Democrats and Independents, Republicans are much less likely to believe that Trump committed a crime in the hush money case. Louie Tsonos, a 43-year-old sales representative and Republican from Carleton, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, stated, “He hasn’t done anything wrong; those people are trying to ruin his reputation, at least that’s what they’re attempting to do.”
Less than one in ten Republicans believe Trump did something illegal in this case, with about one in ten Republicans believing he did something unethical but not illegal. Approximately three in ten Republicans, like Tsonos, believe he did nothing wrong.
In contrast, about 6 in 10 Democrats and 3 in 10 Independents believe he did something illegal.
Monica Brown, a 60-year-old veterinarian technician and social worker from Knoxville, Tennessee, and a Democrat, believes Trump did something unethical but not illegal in the criminal case being tried in New York. She thinks a conviction would destroy his reputation as president.
Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans out of 10 believe that even if Trump is convicted of forging business documents, he would still be suitable to be president. Approximately 8 out of 10 Democrats out of 10 believe he would not be fit for office if convicted. Around half of Independents believe he is unfit for the presidency, while 22% think he is suitable, and 30% are unsure.
Jennifer Solich, a Republican and retired nuclear engineer from York, Pennsylvania, said, “I don’t think these things have anything to do with his ability to lead this country.” She believes that even if Trump is convicted in the New York case, he is still fit for office. “There might be some ethical angles, but I just think it’s negligible compared to the issues our country is facing.”
Editor: Renzijun#