Former President Donald Trump's pending criminal charges may be more damaging than pundits first believed, with a new poll revealing that most Americans reject the Republican candidate's claim of presidential immunity.
Seventy percent of Americans said they don't believe that presidents should be immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office, in a Politico/Ipsos poll released on Monday. This polling comes a little over a month before the Supreme Court is expected to consider Trump's argument that he is immune to conspiracy and obstruction charges related to the 2020 presidential election.
Democrats and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly disagree with the immunity claim - with 92 and 75% respectively disputing Trump's argument. Republicans are more likely to support the immunity claim but 48% still think the president should be eligible for prosecution.
Americans of all parties, however, don't trust the Supreme Court's ability to rule fairly on the issue. Less than a quarter of Americans trust the court to issue a non-partisan ruling, according to the Politico poll.
In recent weeks, analysts have questioned whether voters even care about Trump's litany of felony charges, with one columnist at New York Magazine writing "attitudes toward him have softened even though no exonerating evidence has emerged and none of the facts has changed."
When polled about Trump's other pending charges, however, it seems that Americans remain skeptical of the former president's candidacy, in light of his alleged crimes. In addition to the Supreme Court case, Trump is also expected to be tried in Manhattan in mid-April. This case will deal with Trump's alleged falsification of documents that were linked to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
While Americans are divided on their opinion of this case, 32% say that it would make them less likely to support the former president on Election Day - including ⅔ of unaffiliated voters, according to Politico Magazine.
