A significant majority of Americans believe the indictment of former President Donald Trump is politically motivated, new polling data shows.
CNN released a poll on Monday showing 60% of Americans support the Trump indictment, yet 76% of Americans believe politics played a role in the indictment, including 52% who said politics played a “major role” in the decision. (RELATED: ‘America Was Not Supposed To Be This Way!’: Trump Confirms NYC Court Date)
New CNN poll, on Trump indictment:
Trump fav/unfav: 34/58%
Approve/disapprove of Trump indictment: 60/40%
But only 37% view Trump payments to Stormy Daniels as illegal
52% said politics played a “major role” in indictment (76% said politics played at least some role)
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) April 3, 2023
The support for Trump’s indictment fell along partisan lines as 94% of Democrats approve of the indictment and 79% of Republicans disapprove. A majority of independents, 62%, support the indictment, and 52% of independents believe politics played a major role in the indictment.
Trump is reportedly being indicted on more than 30 counts related to alleged business fraud, but the indictment has not been unsealed, according to CNN. The indictment is centered around an alleged $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels through attorney Michael Cohen ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
CNN’s poll found that 52% of those who disapprove of Trump’s indictment believe he did something wrong by allegedly paying Daniels to keep quiet.
The poll was conducted on March 31 and April 1 among a random sample of 1,048 adults recruited with probability-based methods. Respondents were surveyed by text message and the poll’s margin of error is 4% either way, with a larger amount for the specific subgroups.
Trump is set to be arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday for what he believes is “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”