Nearly half of registered American voters say former President Trump did something illegal in his ongoing criminal trial in New York, according to a poll released Wednesday.
O Quinnipiac University National Survey, conducted Thursday through Monday, shows that 46 percent of registered voters say they think Trump did something illegal, while 29 percent say they think Trump did something unethical but not illegal. Another 21% say they believe Trump did nothing wrong.
The research takes place at a time when the trial against the former president begins to end in New York – about a month after it began. Final discussions will take place next week.
Voters today have similar positions on whether Trump did anything illegal in this case, as they did in a poll carried out at the beginning of the trial. At the time, 46% of registered voters also said they thought Trump did something illegal.
Those who skipped the question, or said they didn’t know, decreased slightly last month, from 8% to 4%. At the same time, those who say Trump did something unethical but not illegal increased slightly, from 27% to 29% — although the change remained within the margin of error. Those who say Trump did nothing wrong increased from 18% to 21%.
When asked whether a conviction would change their vote, 6% of Trump voters said they would be less likely to vote for him, while 24% of Trump voters said they would be more likely to vote for him. Sixty-eight percent of Trump voters say it would make no difference to their vote.
“Will a conviction sink Trump? The vast majority of his supporters say it wouldn’t be a big deal. But in an extremely close race, that 6 percent could tip the scales,” said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac University, in a statement.
The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a secret payment former Trump fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to remain quiet about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006. which he denies.
Trump pleaded not guilty and insisted the records were true and that he was not personally involved in the scheme.
In the introduction to the survey question, the trial was briefly described to the respondent as “the New York City criminal trial against former President Donald Trump in connection with allegations of falsifying business records, including a secret payment to a film actress adult”.
The poll included 1,374 self-identified registered voters and has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
