Most independents say former President Trump received a fair trial in the New York Hush Money criminal case, in a new poll conducted days after he was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to potentially hide information harmful effects before the 2016 presidential elections.
On a CBS News/YouGov Poll published on Sunday, 54% of independents say Trump received a fair trial, while 46% of independents say it was unfair. They were asked to assess the impartiality of the trial, “regardless of your opinion of the verdict”.
Overall, a majority of American adults (56 percent) say equally that Trump had a fair trial, while 44 percent say he did not.
On whether the jury reached the right or wrong verdict in convicting Trump, the answers are similar: 57 percent of American adults say the jury reached the right verdict and 43 percent say the wrong verdict. Among independents, 56 percent say the jury reached the right verdict, while 44 percent say the wrong verdict.
There is a significant partisan divide in the responses. Almost all Democrats (96%) say Trump had a fair trial and that the jury made the right decision, with just 4% saying the trial was unfair and the verdict was wrong.
Republicans are slightly more willing to call the trial unfair (86 percent) than they are to call the verdict wrong (82 percent). Only 14 percent say the trial was fair and 18 percent say the verdict was correct.
The poll comes at a time when the Republican establishment opposes the verdict and classifies the trial as unfair and politically motivated, following suggestions from the former president himself.
On Friday, Trump delivered his harshest condemnation of the trial judge, Judge Juan Merchan, calling him “the devil” and classifying the trial as “rigged” and “a fraud.” These remarks followed a fundraising appeal launched shortly after the verdict was handed down, in which the former president referred to himself as “a political prisoner”.
The CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted from May 30 to June 1, following the conclusion of Trump’s trial, and included 989 U.S. adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
