A plurality of Americans say a Donald Trump conviction in the New York criminal trial would not affect the likelihood of supporting the former president in November's general election, according to a new Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll.
The survey found that 44% of respondents say a conviction in Manhattan would have no impact on their likelihood to support Trump for president.
However, 36% of independent voters say they would be less likely to support Trump if he is found guilty.
Overall, 32% of Americans say they would be less likely to support Trump if he's convicted, and 13% say they would be more likely to back the president, the Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll found.
Trump and President Joe Biden appear destined to face each other in a presidential election rematch, with the outcome expected to be close. Thus, any significant percentage of voters turning away from a candidate could have a major effect.
A judge on Friday delayed former Trump's hush-money trial until at least mid-April after the former president's lawyers said they needed more time to sift through a profusion of evidence they only recently obtained from a previous federal investigation into the matter.
The hush-money case centers on allegations that Trump falsified his company's records to hide the true nature of payments to former Trump lawyer-turned-prosecution witness Michael Cohen, who paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 presidential campaign to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
The latest Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll found that Americans' opinions on the criminal indictments Trump faces are highly divided by political identity and are at levels mostly unchanged since August 2023.
Roughly half of the respondents believe Trump is guilty of the alleged crimes in the sensitive documents case (52%), falsifying business records case (50%), federal 2020 election subversion case (49%), and Georgia election subversion case (49%), the poll results show.
However, while a majority of Democrats say they believe Trump is guilty in all four cases (86%, 86%, 87%, and 86%, respectively), few Republicans think the same (16%, 14%, 12%, and 12%).
A majority of independents, though, believe Trump is guilty in the four cases (58%, 54%, 54%, and 53%), according to the poll.
Regarding Cohen's testimony against Trump, half of Americans say they think it will be honest (47%), while the other half thinks it will not be honest (48%). Most Democrats (74%) say the testimony will be honest, while a large percentage (79%) of Republicans say it will not be honest.
Asked whether U.S. presidents should be immune from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes that occurred while in office, 70% of Americans say presidents should not be immune, the Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll results showed.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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