New criminal charges haven't changed Republicans’ view of Trump, polls say
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
www.axios.com /2023/06/12/trump-classified-documents-indictment-republican-voters-surveys
New criminal charges haven't changed Republicans’ view of Trump, polls say
Jacob Knutson 4-5 minutes 6/12/2023
Former President Trump speaking in Greensboro, North Carolina, on June 10. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Republican voters remain overwhelmingly loyal to former President Trump after he was charged with several federal crimes related to his possession of classified documents after his presidency, recent polls show.
Why it matters: Despite the charges, Trump is still the favorite for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination , according to recent polling. Even some of his fellow candidates have lent support to Trump and questioned the motivation behind the indictment.
By the numbers: An ABC News/Ipsos survey published on Sunday found that 80% of polled Republicans said they believe the charges against Trump are politically motivated, while only 9% of GOP voters said they didn't see politics in the charges.
- Separately, in a CBS News/YouGov poll published on Sunday, 61% of polled Republican voters said the indictment did not change the way they viewed Trump, while 80% of Republicans said he should still be able to assume office if he's convicted and wins the 2024 presidential election.
- The CBS News/YouGov poll also found 76% of Republican voters believe the charges were motivated by politics.
Yes, but: The ABC News/Ipsos found that nearly half (48%) of Americans believe Trump should have been charged over the classified documents investigation, and 17% said they were unsure.
- 69% of respondents to the CBS News/YouGov poll said they believe Trump's retention of the documents was a national security risk.
Of note: Trump was the clear front-runner for the 2024 nomination in the CBS News/YouGov survey, holding a nearly three-to-one vote preference over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his next closest competitor.
Context: The Justice Department has charged Trump with at least 37 felony counts related to retaining classified information and obstruction of justice for his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.
- The indictment alleged that his possession and conduct with the documents posed a national security risk, as they contained classified information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries, U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack and other sensitive material.
- It also alleged that the former president stored the classified documents in public and unsecured spaces throughout his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — including a ballroom and bathroom — and also showed classified documents to others two different times in 2021.
The big picture: The criminal indictment is Trump's second. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records by a Manhattan grand jury earlier this year, to which the former president pleaded not guilty.
- Polls also showed that those charges, stemming from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office investigation into payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and other women during the 2016 presidential election, unified many Republicans around Trump.
- Though Trump has been criminally charged, he is not barred from running for or assuming presidential office — even if convicted, Axios' April Rubin reports .
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Insanity roams the land.
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that's definitely not on topic
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Republicans still support an ex-President who stole highly classified documents and freely showed them around. Yet republicans still consider themselves patriots.
Does the Constitution prohibit it?
I think we should go by the Constitution. That's why we have it.
Please, an old White European-centric document.
How could an inmate at a Federal Detention Center serving felony sentences serve?
Pardon?
I dunno. It's obviously not been done before, but lots of people work remotely.
Teddy Roosevelt supposedly used to work from Orchard Bay all summer.
Regardless, one likes to believe we the electorate would not put that experiment to the test.
More likely his prison sentence would be put into abeyance while he would be in Washington to execute his duties in the Oval Office. I believe the duties of Presidency overrule the prison sentence at that point. My bigger worry would be the inevitable constitutional crisis that would unfold if he were to win the Oval Office and as one of his first acts would be to issue a pardon for himself. Anyway one looks at this, I would not want to see him in the Oval Office again.
If a convicted felon won the presidency and wasnt impeached on his first day in office we might as well fold up the USA tent and go home.
We have people in this country who think it would be perfectly fine if Trump was convicted of crimes related to mishandling of national security secrets but he still became president for four years.
The idea is ludicrous.
It scares the hell out of me that he could win.
He is not going to win the general election. The electorate is ~31% D, ~25% R and ~41% independents (50% of which lean D, 39% lean R). The Ds and most independents will NOT vote for Trump.
MAGA represents ~42% of the GOP. And even if the Rs stand 100% behind Trump (and they will NOT do so) he does not have the votes to win:
Trump loses.
We as a country should not be forced to take that chance. The situation is too volatile to depend on what "should" happen.
Of course not. The GOP is currently dysfunctional and that screws everything up.
Realistically only about 20% of Republicans are hard core Trump supporters and likely to vote for him. That won't get him through the nomination process
How do you arrive at 20%?:
Trump can win the nomination with a plurality. He does not need to secure a majority.
The big fault line will come when Trump is charged and convicted for Jan 6th activities and still Republicans support him. Dont think it wont happen.
The MAGA crowd will, at least the majority of them, support Trump no matter what. Confirmation bias will keep them believing what they want to believe and ignoring / dismissing all facts to the contrary.
I think that moves more from "when" to "if" with every day that goes by.
They're gonna have to charge him first.
Yeah. Was listening to news last week where this was the topic and the consensus was that it was doubtful he would be charged for Jan 6th.
And that's your payoff for the last decade. Partisanship in who gets prosecuted and who doesn't erodes confidence. The DOJ has lost the confidence of half the country.
Compare how the Biden DOJ intervened to lessen violent left wing terrorists punishment at the same time they were seeking maximum punishment for non violent J6 protesters.
People who aren't progressives see that happening and are appalled.
That's much more important than what happens to Trump.
Yes, the half that has been brainwashed into believing half baked and crackpot conspiracy theories.
Okay ... "violent left wing terrorists" - "non violent J6 protesters".
That sucks for signor DeSantis.
So we've really only got 35% of Americans who think he should have been charged. Slightly more than one in three.
That's an interesting number.