Trouble Looms for Trump as 56% of Americans Support Criminal Charges Brought Against Him: Poll

Fifty-six percent of Americans support the criminal charges brought against former President Donald Trump, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

Trump is under indictment in four jurisdictions. He has been charged in New York with falsifying business records, in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election in the state, in federal court in Florida for retaining government documents after his presidency, and in federal court in Washington, D.C. for trying to overturn the 2020 election in multiple states.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 91 counts he faces. Despite his legal woes, he remains the clear frontrunner to win the 2024 Republican nomination and will likely face President Joe Biden in a rematch. While Trump is still popular with the GOP base, a majority of Americans say they support the charges against him.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll did not ask respondents about individual charges or cases, opting instead to broadly ask:

Trump has been indicted on federal and state charges that he conspired to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and that he illegally retained classified documents after leaving office. Do you support or oppose these criminal charges having been brought against Trump?

Fifty-six percent said they support the charges, with 41% saying they “strongly” support them. Meanwhile, 39% said they oppose them, including 24% who “strongly” oppose.

The poll also asked respondents’ opinions on the decisions by officials in Colorado and Maine to remove Trump from the ballot for having engaged in “insurrection,” an act that the 14th Amendment says prohibits one from holding federal office. Forty-nine percent said they support removal while 46% oppose. Trump is appealing his removal.

Elsewhere in the survey, 21% said that if Trump is convicted, they will have a “lower opinion” of him, while 5% said they would have a “higher opinion” of the former president.

The survey was conducted among 2,228 adults in English and Spanish between Jan. 4 and Jan. 8 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.